Thread: Military to allow undocumented immigrants to serve

Military to allow undocumented immigrants to serve

USA Today
Andrew Tilghman, Military Times
September 25, 2014

A small number of undocumented immigrants in the U.S. will have an opportunity to join the military for the first time in decades under a new Department of Defense policy unveiled Thursday.

The new rules will expand an existing program allowing recruiters to target foreign nationals with high-demand skills, mostly rare foreign language expertise or specialized health care training.

For the first time, the program — known as Military Accessions in the National Interest, or MAVNI — will be open to immigrants without a proper visa if they came to the U.S. with their parents before age 16. More specifically, they must be approved under a 2012 Obama administration policy known as Deferred Action for Child Arrivals, or DACA.

The new Pentagon policy may be the first phase of a broader government-wide effort to ease pressure on immigrants and create new paths to citizenship. President Barack Obama, frustrated with the failure of Congress to pass any substantial immigration reform, has vowed to aggressively use his presidential authority to change the way immigration policies are carried out.

The Pentagon program is capped at 1,500 recruits per year. Officials say it's unclear how many of those might be unlawful DACA status immigrants as opposed to others who are also eligible for military service under MAVNI, including those with legal, nonpermanent visas such as students or tourists.

Estimates suggest between 1.2 million and 2.1 million children, teenagers and young adults in the U.S. have no legal immigration status but meet the criteria for the DACA program. Those targeted by recruiters under the MAVNI program likely will be immigrants with language skills critical to national security, such as Arabic, Chinese, Pashto or Persian.

But Pentagon officials don't know how many of those immigrants have actually learned their ancestral language to the proficiency required by the military.

"We're just not sure how many within that existing population of DACA would have the linguistic skills to qualify," said one defense official familiar with the policy change. "These are kids who entered the country at a fairly young age and have basically grown up in the United States, so the limit of their language talents would probably be the language that they received at home."

DACA status is granted by the Department of Homeland Security and includes a background check.

On average, the military recruits about 5,000 noncitizens each year, nearly all of them permanent U.S. residents, or so-called "green card" holders. Starting in 2006, the military began accepting some foreigners with nonpermanent visas, such as students or tourists, if they had special skills that are highly valued.

After entering military service, foreigners are eligible for expedited U.S. citizenship. Since 2001, more than 92,000 foreign-born service members have become citizens while serving in uniform.

The MAVNI program began in 2008 and remains a pilot program. The Pentagon notified Congress on Thursday that the program, which was due to expire at the end of this fiscal year, will be extended for another two years and will for the first time include DACA-status immigrants.

The military services are not required to accept recruits under MAVNI. In recent years, the Army has been the only service to accept a significant number of recruits under the program. The Air Force has accepted only a few and the Navy and Marine Corps have not sought MAVNI recruits in recent years.


http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...tary/16225135/

This is an absolute outrage! Obama is not only violating the US Constitution but he is violating existing laws. It is currently against the laws of Congress for illegal aliens to enroll in the US Military!

W

Originally Posted by ALIPAC

This is an absolute outrage! Obama is not only violating the US Constitution but he is violating existing laws. It is currently against the laws of Congress for illegal aliens to enroll in the US Military!

W

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Obama's continued pummeling of the U.S. Armed Forces has caused more damage than any foreign enemy ever could. Remember what the Constitution has to say about 'domestic' enemies.

FLASHBACK: Army to lay off 30,000 US soldiers...
Forced to 'get picky' in recruiting...

I guess that sending Americans to our Defense Language Institute in Monterrey is out of the question. That's too bad, having a language skill could provide an American with a good career.
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Americans first in this magnificent country

American jobs for American workers

Fair trade, not free trade

I think that it is all about the voting booth. George Bush sign and Executive order in 2002 that expedites citizenship for illegals and all their family members. they start the application process in boot camp.
Service Members Can Apply for Expedited U.S. Citizenship

By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Feb. 24, 2004 – Foreign-born service members can now speed up the process to obtain American citizenship.

The immediate eligibility for service members to become a naturalized citizen is based on Executive Order 13269 signed by President Bush on July 3, 2002. Section 329 of the 8 U.S. Code allows the president to authorize expedited citizenship during periods in which the United States is engaged in armed conflict with a hostile foreign force.
For example, members who have served honorably for any period of time beginning on or after Sept. 11, 2001, are eligible to apply for expedited U.S. citizenship, Air Force Col. Michael A. Pachuta, director of DoD's Morale, Welfare and Recreation policy office, told American Forces Radio and Television Service in a Feb. 20 interview.

The peacetime waiting period is shortened to one year of honorable service, thanks to the fiscal 2004 National Defense Authorization Act. Prior to the executive order, the peacetime waiting period, Pachuta pointed out, was three years of honorable military service.

Effective Oct. 1, 2004, he continued, the new law allows for U.S. citizenship applications to be finalized at U.S. embassies, consulates and selected military installations overseas, to include citizenship interviews, testing, and oaths of allegiance. Also effective Oct. 1, the new law waives the $310 citizenship application and fingerprint fee.

The new law also provides sped-up avenues for the non-U.S.-citizen spouses, children and parents of service members who have died as a result of service in combat to obtain "immediate relative" alien status, Pachuta said.

He said the new citizenship application rules cover active duty service members and National Guard and Reserve personnel who are classified as members of the Selected Reserve of the Ready Reserve.

Service members who want to become naturalized U.S. citizens must apply for it, the colonel pointed out. Army and Air Force members seeking to become naturalized U.S. citizens under the expedited process can contact their military personnel offices, Pachuta noted, while Navy and Marine Corps members can contact their legal assistance offices for help.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Web site, he noted, provides forms, instructions and more helpful information about the naturalization process.

http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=27264

Originally Posted by ALIPAC

This is an absolute outrage! Obama is not only violating the US Constitution but he is violating existing laws. It is currently against the laws of Congress for illegal aliens to enroll in the US Military!

W

MR GHEEN
WHY DON'T WE IMPEACH OBAMA BACK IN (1920 THEY IMPEACH JOHNSON )THEY JUST HAND HIM A PAPER
I TOLD YOU WE CAN DO THIS ( THEY DID THIS TO JOHNSON WHY CAN WE DO THE SAME THING ? JOHNSON WAS NOT DOING HIS JOB THIS IS THE SAME THING WITH OBAMA )

They will enlist only for their personal gain with no loyalty to this country. I would not want to serve with them. JMO
OBAMA ENACTS EXECUTIVE ACTION TO ALLOW SOME DREAMERS TO SERVE IN MILITARY




by TONY LEE
25 Sep 2014 1063POST A COMMENT

On the day Attorney General Eric Holder announced his resignation, President Barack Obama enacted an executive action on Thursday to allow certain DREAMers to serve in the military and be put on an expedited path to citizenship.

Obama vowed to hold off on broad executive amnesty that would also potentially grant temporary work permits to millions of illegal immigrants until after the midterm elections to help Senate Democrats retain the Senate. According to the Military Times, this executive action will expand MAVNI (Military Accessions in the National Interest) "to target foreign nationals with high-demand skills, mostly rare foreign language expertise, or specialized health care training."

The program, which admits foreigners with specialized medical or language skills, will now be "open to immigrants without a proper visa if they came to the U.S. with their parents before age 16" and have been approved for Obama's 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

The MAVNI program "is capped at 1,500 recruits per year," and Obama's executive action "may be the first phase of a broader government-wide effort to ease pressure on immigrants and create new paths to citizenship," according to the Times, because "after entering military service, foreigners are eligible for expedited U.S. citizenship." The Times noted that "since 2001, more than 92,000 foreign-born service members have become citizens while serving in uniform."

In May, Jessica Wright, the Acting Under Secretary for Personnel and Readiness at the Pentagon, testified before a Senate subcommittee hearing in Chicago that the Obama administration was working to expand MAVNI, which started in 2008, to include DREAMers. Soon after, Pentagon officials reportedly reached an agreement to allow some DREAMers in the program, but the Department of Defense did not make a formal announcement until Thursday, when it notified Congress "that the program, which was due to expire at the end of this fiscal year, will be extended for another two years and will for the first time include DACA-status immigrants."

According to the Military Times, "the military services are not required to accept recruits under MAVNI." The publication notes that "in recent years, the Army has been the only service to accept a significant number of recruits under the program. The Air Force has accepted only a few and the Navy and Marine Corps have not sought MAVNI recruits in recent years."
Pro-amnesty advocates who want more from Obama on immigration were still less than pleased. The pro-amnesty America's Voice group called the move "weak," saying "this foray into executive action is a fig leaf that pretends to help Dreamers but will, in fact, help virtually no one."

"The Obama Administration should go well beyond the MAVNI program and expand DACA and enlistment policies to include as many DREAMers and aspiring Americans possible," the group said in a statement. "If today’s measure is any indication of the type of executive actions we can expect to see from the President after the elections, we are not impressed."
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/09/25/Obama-Enacts-Exec-Action-to-Allow-Some-DREAMers-to-Serve-in-Military

Obama: The military must now accept illegal aliens into their ranks



Courtesy of FBI On Thursday, Department of Defense officials announced that for the first time in this nation's history, those living in this country illegally will now be eligible for military service. While the military, for many years, has allowed foreign nationals to serve in our military, the program known as Military Accessions in the National Interest, (MAVNI), that program was only open to those here immigrating here through legal means, the Military Times reported.

Yesterday's changes now affords anyone who can qualify for the 2012 Deferred Action for Child Arrivals (DACA) program, better known as Obama's 'Executive Order Amnesty,' the ability to enlist in the military.

This is obviously another tactic being employed by President Obama to give citizenship to illegal aliens, without going through Congress to do so. However, considering that nearly all of those covered by DACA are from Mexico and Central America, this latest political move poses a grave threat to our military as well as to the nation's police departments.

We know that many of those who have recently arrived on our border are members of MS-13, and other violent Latin American gangs and likely affiliated with the Mexican drug cartels. But, because they do not have criminal records in this country, the Border Patrol has been forced by the Obama administration to send them into the interior of the U.S.

In this case, it is not a matter of when gang and cartel members will infiltrate our military, instead, the question is now...How much worse will it get?
In August 2009, Pfc. Michael Jackson Apodaca, 18, was arrested by police in El Paso and charged with the murder of a member of the Juarez Drug Cartel. The victim, Jose Daniel Gonzalez Galeana,was working as an informant for U.S. authorities.

Apodaca enlisted in the U.S. Army in September 2008, and was stationed at Fort Bliss, with the 11th Air Defense Artillery Brigade. It is unknown whether he was recruited by the Juarez Cartel before or after he joined the Army.

A 2011 FBI report on gang activity in the military stated:

Gang recruitment of active duty military personnel constitutes a significant criminal threat to the US military. Members of nearly every major street gang, as well as some prison gangs and OMGs, have been reported on both domestic and international military installations, according to NGIC analysis and multiple law enforcement reporting. Through transfers and deployments, military-affiliated gang members expand their culture and operations to new regions nationwide and worldwide, undermining security and law enforcement efforts to combat crime. Gang members with military training pose a unique threat to law enforcement personnel because of their distinctive weapons and combat training skills and their ability to transfer these skills to fellow gang members.

The National Gang Assessment Center has identified the following Latino street and prison gangs as having gang members who were trained in the U.S. military:

-18th Street Gang
-Florencia 13
-Latin Kings
-Mexican Mafia (La Eme)
-MS 13
-Norteños
-Sureños

These gangs have already infiltrated the ranks of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, National Guard and Reserves, according to the FBI.
The idea of allowing illegal aliens who show up to Border Patrol stations along our Southern border, who are covered in gang tattoos, complete with 'teardrop tats (denoting the number of murders they have committed),' to be placed on passenger jets and sent to every corner of this nation is an unthinkable presidential order. To have that same commander-in-chief then order that these same foreign criminals be given the finest military training the world has to offer enters into the arena of sedition.

This is yet another step in Obama's disastrous 'fundamental transformation' of our once great nation.

http://www.examiner.com/article/obam...alerts_article

So we will have a foreign mercenary military now? Do we not learn from the Roman Empire?