Posted on 02/16/2009 8:20:25 AM PST by lewisglad
WASHINGTON: For decades, high-skilled professionals from across the world, particularly India, have fought their way to US citizenship through legal immigration channels — a process that can take up to a decade or more. Now, Uncle Sam is making it easy. Fight your way — literally — to American citizenship in as little as six months.
In a far reaching proposal, the US military will open its doors to skilled immigrant guest workers (such as those who hold H-1B visas) who have lived in the US for a minimum of two years. The move is aimed at offsetting the poor recruitment intake from traditional sources at a time the US military is stretched thin by deployments in Iraq and the Af-Pak theater.
US Green card holders, also known as permanent residents, have long been eligible to enlist in the military. But this is the first time since the Vietnam War that the armed forces will be open to temporary immigrants and offer them a path to citizenship, a move that in some ways amounts to outsourcing its wars.
The program comes at a time when skilled immigrants in the US are facing a slowing job market, offering them an avenue to turn potential pink slips into not just Green cards, but citizenship — if they are so obsessed about their American Dream.
A pilot program that will take in 1000 immigrant recruits nationwide will begin in New York City in the first year, according the New York Times, which first reported the development on Sunday.
By going to the pool of skilled immigrants, recruiters actually expect to improve the quality of US military personnel, since most foreign skilled guest workers typically have more education, foreign language skills and professional expertise than many Americans who enlist. This is expected to help the military to fill shortages in medical care, language interpretation and field intelligence analysis.
The program is particularly germane to Indian guest workers who constitute the largest segment of skilled foreign workers in the US, and although Spanish-speaking Latinos constitute the largest group of immigrants, they are largely unskilled.
The one-year pilot program in New York City that will recruit 550 personnel (rest 450 will come from across the country) explicitly excludes Spanish speakers, while being open to immigrants who speak one or more of 35 languages, including Hindi/Urdu, Tamil, Arabic, Chinese, Nepalese, Pashto etc. US officials have said in the past that they sorely lacked field intelligence operatives with requisite language skills to be deployed in the Af-Pak theater.
The army’s program will also include about 300 medical professionals to be recruited nationwide. If the pilot program, which is restricted to the army and some other agencies, succeeds, it will expand for all branches of the military
Today's immigrants aren't coming here to be Americans. They stubbornly insist on maintaining their old national identity and culture. Their loyalty lies where they came from and makes them a security risk.
Someone who came by means of volunteering for the Army in wartime are likely to be far more loyal and Americanized than the average immigrant.
As well, if I was writing the law, I would require that they renounce their former citizenship upon enlistment.
What a great idea. Have a large armed force willing to do anything the president says regardless of constitutionality. Want to send in the military to stop domestic protests, send in the foreign legion. They won't hesitate to shoot US citizens in the US.
Ahhhhhhhhhhh, what a clever way to get foreigners into our military . . . more willing to deal with . . . troublesome civilians . . . when the time soonish comes.
I’d put a /sar if it was sar. . . . but it ain’t.
Obama should create whole infantry divisions of foreigners. They wont hesitate to fire on American demonstrators when conservatives eventually take to the streets.
Destroy any semblence of individuality, rebuild a confidence and teamwork ethic and pride second to none.
IIRC it used to take 10 years in the Foreign Legion to achieve French citizenship. That seemed too long, but 6 months seems like it might be too rapid.
We could certainly form several Pancho Villa brigades quite easily.
Guess we'll have to breed a lot of cats to feed them. ;)
Yeah, but don’t you think military service might help clear that concern up a little?
Yes, that’s true, especially within certain professions. many who come from India have engineering and medical degrees the average U.S. military enlistee does not. The military is concentrating on acquiring those in medical professions and linguists, particularly South Asian languages like Urdu and Pashtun. The Hindi language, for instance, has many similarities to Urdu, except in written form.
I’m pretty sure there are very few such linguists amongst the average group of those enlisting into the Marines based upon my conversations with MARSOC (Special Operations Command, U. S. Marine Forces) personnel. MARSOC folks have actually asked me for names of young naturalized Americans who can speak at least five of the major dialects of Chinese.
Juan Valdez thinking to himself: “Let’s see...I can join the U.S. Army now, risk getting shot for a nation I hold no allegiance to and gain citizenship in 6 months while I serve out my enlistment or I can stand around on any U.S street corner without being bothered and automatically become a full fledged citizen and child of the welfare state via amnesty in half that time...
Why is this appearing on the Times of India, but not elsewhere? Why no American papers?
Remember what became of the Romans?
Supposedly it was buried in the Sunday New York Times edition.
US military will open its doors to skilled immigrant guest workers (such as those who hold H-1B visas) who have lived in the US for a minimum of two years.
With the citizenship will they lose their H-1B visa, and their job?
What about middle-eastern immigrants? Bosnian or Albanian immigrants? What about immigrants from Indonesia or Somalia?
6 month seems like a very short time..
I think people are over reacting big time. These foreigners will be spread between hundreds of units.
This system worked incredibly well for Romans, Auxilia had Roman officers and ranks filled with non-citizens who after a 25 years would get full citizenship. Problems started when Rome started using units that were completely foreign and commanded by foreigners. When it worked typical legion would have same numbers of Auxilia attached to it as the numbers of it’s main body of heavy infantry. You would have slingers and archers, cavalry (which in general would be higher quality then native Roman cavalry), all kinds of lighter infantry used to protect flanks and such.
Brits have some great examples of similar system with Ghurka, British officers serving alongside native troops. The native qualities combined with British discipline etc very effective.
> The program is particularly germane to Indian guest workers who constitute the largest segment of skilled foreign workers in the US, and although Spanish-speaking Latinos constitute the largest group of immigrants, they are largely unskilled.
Well, at least they were honest about the Latinos. I still remember my friends who are Punjabi and Hindi and they had engineering degrees from India but could only drive taxis here. One of them started a laser company that now has a grant from the DOD.
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