Posted on 07/05/2018 7:24:45 PM PDT by tkocur
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Some immigrant U.S. Army reservists and recruits who enlisted in the military with a promised path to citizenship are being abruptly discharged, the Associated Press has learned.
The AP was unable to quantify how many men and women who enlisted through the special recruitment program have been booted from the Army, but immigration attorneys say they know of more than 40 who have been discharged or whose status has become questionable, jeopardizing their futures.
“It was my dream to serve in the military,” said reservist Lucas Calixto, a Brazilian immigrant who filed a lawsuit against the Army last week. “Since this country has been so good to me, I thought it was the least I could do to give back to my adopted country and serve in the United States military.”
Some of the service members say they were not told why they were being discharged. Others who pressed for answers said the Army informed them they’d been labeled as security risks because they have relatives abroad or because the Defense Department had not completed background checks on them.
Spokespeople for the Pentagon and the Army said that, 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.
Eligible recruits are required to have legal status in the U.S., such as a student visa, before enlisting. More than 5,000 immigrants were recruited into the program in 2016, and an estimated 10,000 are currently serving. Most go the Army, but some also go to the other military branches.
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...
It’s been that way as long as I can remember. Why wouldn’t we want to reward those who put their lives on the line for this nation? They have to meet other requirements as well, so it’s not an automatic in,
We’re in agreement on the issue of foreign nationals serving.
We’re also in agreement on those other issues.
The active military is no place to advance social engineering.
It’s my take the Trump administration agrees, because I just read that those who have applied, are not being processed.
Saw this in the last day or so.
I found it. Check this out.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3668567/posts
Non citizens have been serving in the American military since the Revolution. Our recruiters do a good job of vetting them. This is a solution in search of a problem.
“We need to be mindful of security risks”
The people the AP says were “discharged” never completed basic training. And more.
[Immigration attorney Margaret] Stock said the service members she’s heard from had been told the Defense Department had not managed to put them through extensive background checks, which include CIA, FBI and National Intelligence Agency screenings and counterintelligence interviews. Therefore, by default, they do not meet the background check requirement. […]Funny how they bury this several paragraphs down.
The AP interviewed Calixto and recruits from Pakistan and Iran, all of whom said they were devastated by their unexpected discharges. …
Legal aliens deserve consideration. But we are allowing anti American moslems in our military??? You are kidding me??
Why doesn't it say members of the Army? Is this fake news?
Accepting a few percent who join for reasons ideologically aligned with the nation and are integrated with solid soldiers is a whole lot different from farming out the majority of the military.
Filipinos in the United States Navyhttps://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/f/filipinos-in-the-united-states-navy.htmlPrepared by: Bureau of Naval Personnel October 1976
BACKGROUND
President William McKinley signed an executive order in 1901 allowing the Navy to enlist 500 Filipinos as part of the insular force. Secretary of the Navy John D. Long signed General Order No. 40, 8 April 1901, promulgating the executive order.
Prior to 1946, Filipinos were generally assigned to steward duties. After the granting of independence to the Philippine Islands in 1946, this source of recruitment was closed.
In 1947, the United States concluded an agreement with the Republic of the Philippines which specified that the United States would be permitted to recruit citizens of the Philippines for voluntary enlistment into the United States Armed Forces. Filipinos are recruited into the Navy under the provisions of Article XXVII of the Military Bases Agreement between the United States and the Republic of the Philippines of 14 March 1947. However, there was no requirement for such recruitment prior to the Korean conflict. Expanded personnel requirements at this time resulted in an urgent need for additional stewards in the US Navy. Consequently, an agreement was negotiated in 1952 based upon the 1947 agreement whereby up to 1,000 Filipino citizens could be enlisted in the US Navy each year. This agreement was amended upon the request of the United States in 1954 to raise this number to 2,000 a year.
Only people who have been screened first, should have been allowed to join.
So what's the effen problem? They're here legally for G-d's sake! What are they NOT telling us in the article?
GOOD!
Citizens first.
You should read more closely. They had legal status when they enlisted. I am not sure of all the facts here, but when you angrily distort known facts you hurt our arguments against illegal imigration. You make us all sound hateful and emotional. Stick to the facts and we can win the argument in the long run.
Was he a lumberjack?
Was he ok?
It is you, who makes us all sound STUPID, by emotionally reacting to my post, sans comprehending what I actually did post.
The Iranian I served with defected from the IRIAF. He also denounced Islam and converted to Christianity. He had 2 death sentences given to him in Iran, one for desertion and one for apostasy. He could never go back.
Close. He was a carpenter.
Well Obama did say he was going to form a private force didn’t he?
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