The Associated Press has learned that some immigrant U.S. Army reservists and recruits who enlisted with the promise of a path to citizenship in the United States are being abruptly and quietly discharged.
And while the AP has not been able to obtain some exact numbers, immigration attorneys say there are more than 40 individuals who have been discharged so far, whose immigration status is now in jeopardy.
Some of those discharged were not told why they were no longer in the military, while several other told the AP they were labeled a “security risk” because of relatives abroad and/or because their background checks were incomplete, reports The Hill.
As is usual in today’s political climate in the U.S. – Time is reporting that spokespeople with the Pentagon and the Army told the news outlet: “due to the pending litigation, they were unable to explain the discharges or respond to questions about whether there have been policy changes in any of the military branches.”
“They are not being told why.” An immigration attorney says the U.S. Army is quietly discharging immigrant recruits. #APNewsBreak. Read the story here: pic.twitter.com/A5Lp7AVJEl
— The Associated Press (@AP) July 6, 2018
The Defense Department told the AP in a statement that “[a]ll service members (i.e. contracted recruits, active duty, Guard, and Reserve) and those with an honorable discharge are protected from deportation.” The statement obviously does not cover those immigrants who received an “uncharacterized discharge,” putting their immigration status on shaky ground.
According to the Japan Times, recruits must have legal status in the U.S. before being allowed to enlist. Over 5,000 recruits were taken into the program in 2016, and there are now over 10,000 currently serving, with most of them in the U.S. Army.
This latest move by the Trump administration is part of its crackdown on all immigration, apparently. Not all the recruits discharged so far, have been from Latin American countries. There are also service members from Pakistan and Iran who have been handed their walking papers.
The U.S. military should “prioritize enlisting American citizens,” according to Republican Congressman Andy Harris of Maryland. However, many people seem to forget that since the Revolutionary War, soldiers fighting in defense of the U.S. have included immigrants, lots of them.
