Thread: House slated for immigration fight in defense bill (update)

Cristina Marcos

The House is slated for what will likely be contentious votes this week over allowing certain illegal immigrants to enlist in the military.

House GOP leaders decided late Tuesday night to grant floor time to two Republican-authored amendments to a defense spending bill. The amendments would ensure that no funds can be used to enlist in the military young illegal immigrants granted work permits under President Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.The amendments, authored by conservative Reps. Steve King (R-Iowa) and Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), are sure to cause uproar among Democrats and some centrist Republicans who believe DACA recipients should be allowed to serve in the military.

Immigration hard-liners such as King and Gosar say that only immigrants who are in the country legally should be able to serve in the armed forces.

Certain young illegal immigrants can qualify for the DACA program if they have lived in the U.S. since June 2007, immigrated before the age of 16 and are in school or have completed high school-level education.

The Obama administration is already enlisting DACA recipients through a program — called Military Accessions Vital to the National Interest (MAVNI) — that permits highly skilled legal immigrants with critical foreign language or medical abilities to serve in the military.

The issue over allowing illegal immigrants to enlist in the military nearly threatened last year's defense authorization bill. During its markup, the House Armed Services Committee adopted a provision establishing a "sense of the House" that the Pentagon should review allowing DACA recipients to serve.

The House later stripped out that provision following fierce objections from conservatives.

While House GOP leaders are allowing a fight over illegal immigration over the course of considering the Defense Department spending bill this week, they sought to prevent another over gay rights in the aftermath of a mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando.

Left out of the 75 amendments the House Rules Committee made in order Tuesday night was an amendment from Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.) that would enforce a 2014 executive order prohibiting federal contractors from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation or gender.

Maloney's amendment caused trouble for two recent spending bills, which led House GOP leaders to begin clamping down on which amendments to appropriations measures can get votes.

Maloney blasted GOP leaders for blocking a vote on his amendment in a series of tweets late Tuesday night, writing: "As an #LGBT American I'm at a loss. Our community suffers tremendous loss, now GOP lawmakers refuse to even allow a vote."

A final vote on the underlying defense spending bill is expected on Thursday.

House slated for immigration fight in defense bill

Immigration hard-liners such as King and Gosar say that only immigrants who are in the country legally should be able to serve in the armed forces.

Definitely, because illegal aliens are supposed to be deported, not enrolled in the US military.

Illegal aliens must be deported, not given jobs by any department of the US government, including most especially the US Department of Defense.

The very idea is nuts. That doesn't mean they're bad soldiers or even bad people, it means they are in the wrong country for the wrong reasons, in violation of US immigration law, and must be deported.

By Cristina Marcos - 06/16/16 12:46 PM EDT

In a break from previous votes on the issue, the House on Thursday rejected two GOP proposals to prevent the Obama administration from enlisting young illegal immigrants to serve in the military.

Lawmakers voted down two measures offered by immigration hard-liners Reps. Steve King (R-Iowa) and Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) that would have prohibited the use of federal money to enlist young illegal immigrants who have been granted work permits under President Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

More than 30 Republicans with more centrist views on immigration joined all Democrats in opposing the two amendments offered to a Defense Department spending bill. The amendments failed narrowly with votes of 207-214 and 210-211, respectively.

Certain young illegal immigrants qualify for DACA if they came to the U.S. as minors and have worked toward at least a high school education, among other requirements.
The Obama administration has already enlisted some DACA recipients through a program, Military Accessions Vital to the National Interest (MAVNI), that recruits immigrants with valued foreign language or medical skills to serve in the military. Gosar said the Pentagon confirmed to his office that it had recruited 141 DACA recipients as of April.

The amendments would have blocked the Obama administration from using the MAVNI program to enlist people in the DACA program.

Democrats sought to tie the provisions to the harsh rhetoric on immigration from presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump.

“Clearly, House Republicans are taking their anti-immigrant cues from Donald Trump,” said Rep. Ben Ray Lujan (D-N.M.), the chairman of House Democrats’ campaign arm.

“They come here in the spirit of Donald Trump,” Rep. Joaquín Castro (D-Texas) said of the House GOP. “What we’re seeing with these amendments is part of a larger pattern of hostility toward Hispanic Americans on the part of the Republican Party.”

King and Gosar said that the Obama administration is stretching the limits of MAVNI.

“It’s not for the president to use this as a blanket amnesty,” King said.

Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), an Iraq War veteran, argued that the military should be able to recruit anyone who could help the nation.

“Simply put, we shouldn’t let political posturing stand in the way of our military’s requirement goals,” Gallego said.

It’s the second time in a week that House Democrats have used an immigration-related provision in an appropriations bill to try to tie the GOP to Trump.

The annual spending bill for legislative branch operations typically passes with a wide bipartisan majority. But the measure passed largely along party lines last week because Democrats opposed a provision to keep the phrase "illegal alien" in subject headings, contrary to a Library of Congress decision.

Republicans maintained that the phrase simply reflects that some people are in the country illegally. But Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chairwoman Linda Sánchez (Calif.) urged fellow Democrats to vote against the spending bill, arguing that the term “perpetuates racism and promotes hate."

Debate over allowing illegal immigrants to serve in the military nearly sunk the annual Defense authorization bill last year.

The House Armed Services Committee had approved a provision establishing a “sense of the House” that the Pentagon should review allowing DACA recipients to enlist during its markup of the bill. But the House later voted to eliminate the language in response to conservative outcry.

http://thehill.com/policy/finance/28...ng-in-military

Ridiculous. What a stupid thing. Allowing illegal aliens to serve in the US military. Absolute insanity. Our Congress is Nuts.

Illegal immigrants regardless of their supposed status for not being deported have proven over and over
again they have no interest to assimilate into the American culture and more importantly only
have loyalty to their home countries.

Having illegal immigrants with no loyalty to America in our military would be extremely dangerous
and put the lives of American soldiers and country in harm.

Stupid, Stupid, STUPID!

Completely Asinine !

I am a female Veteran and I DO NOT want any illegal immigrants in my Military. They have already broken the law and gotten away with it...they will destroy our Military. NO NO NO

They have no allegiance to their own Country...and they certainly have NO allegiance to ours!