Immigrants finding path to citizenship through military
James Pinkerton
Houston Chronicle
Sep 18, 2006
SAN JUAN — A record number of immigrants are becoming U.S. citizens by serving in the armed forces. Some are granted citizenship posthumously after they are killed in battle. But most survive the perils of war and soon pledge allegiance to the red, white and blue. More than 25,000 immigrants have become citizens and another 40,000 have become eligible for citizenship through the military since President Bush signed an executive order in July 2002 speeding the process. "We've had a record surge of applications," said Dan Kane, a spokesman for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in Washington. Immigrants "can apply for citizenship immediately, the day they are sworn in as members of the military."
The 40,000 immigrants in the U.S. military can become citizens after only a year of active duty. The previous requirement was three years, Kane said.
Only legal residents — or immigrants who entered the country illegally and then applied for residency — can enter the armed forces. And while the fast track to citizenship is a strong lure for some, it's not the main reason many Latino immigrants sign up, say military recruiters in the Rio Grande Valley.
"I'd put No. 1, the educational benefits," said U.S. Marine Gunnery Sgt. Levi Garcia, a Brownsville recruiter and himself an immigrant from Nicaragua. "No. 2, work experience, and three would be serving their country, or patriotism."
Citizenship benefits are a distant fourth, he said.
Kane agreed, rejecting the idea that immigrants join to become citizens.
"Immigrants who come into the military are doing it because of a strong sense of patriotism. They are embracing their adoptive country," he said. "When I hear people saying they are signing up to be citizens, it denigrates their service.
"They're there because they want to make a contribution. ... They want to give back to America."
