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Posted on 08/09/2003 3:57:23 AM PDT by csvset
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Sailors taking an oath of allegiance on the carrier Roosevelt on Friday included Carlisle Pennycooke from Jamaica, Nai Li from China, Christopher Ezomo from Nigeria, Henol Getachew from Ethiopia, and Johan Peguero from the Dominican Republic.
Photos by Bill Tiernan / The Virginian-Pilot.
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By MATTHEW DOLAN, The Virginian-Pilot
© August 9, 2003
NORFOLK -- The first American sailor stood for Albania, the second for Antigua. In the end, more than 200 enlisted Navy men and women followed their lead, rising from their seats to acknowledge the 51 countries they once called home.
But at the conclusion of a citizenship ceremony Friday morning, those same sailors swore allegiance to one country: the United States of America.
The hourlong swearing-in, held on a sticky, overcast morning on the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt, turned 222 sailors into full-fledged Americans, a dramatic illustration of a presidential order designed to reward foreign-born troops with citizenship.
``They are prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice for America,'' Eduardo Aguirre, the director of the federal Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services, told hundreds of sailors and their loved ones inside the Roosevelt's aircraft hangar bay. ``It is only fitting that we bestow on them our nation's ultimate honor -- citizenship.''
Since the Revolutionary War, foreign nationals have served with American forces. More than 68,000 immigrants now serve in the U.S. armed forces, according to the Migration Policy Institute, a nonprofit think tank in Washington. Navy statistics show that more than 15,000 enlisted sailors are noncitizens.
Petty Officer 3rd Class Safouane King-Elalaoui, from Morocco, holds his 2-year-old daughter Kyelin moments before the start of Friday's naturalization ceremony aboard the carrier Theodore Roosevelt. Until recently, they had to wait at least three years to apply for citizenship. In July 2002, President Bush signed an executive order to waive the waiting period. Since then, more than 8,000 service men and women have applied for citizenship.
Many of the new citizens at Friday's naturalization ceremony had served in the war against Iraq. At least 12 noncitizens -- 11 Marines and one soldier -- died in the war.
Seaman Tunji Sojirin, a storekeeper recently back from a nine-month deployment on the amphibious assault ship Nassau, said Friday he joined the Navy to become a citizen.
``And now the sky's the limit,'' said Sojirin, 25, who came to Providence, R.I., from Nigeria about two years ago.
Although the United States allows legal permanent residents to serve in the military, only citizens can become commissioned or warrant officers, intelligence specialists or members of elite units such as Navy SEALs.
Many of the largest immigrant groups in the United States, including those from the Philippines, Mexico, Vietnam, Korea, El Salvador and Germany, are also some of the largest foreign-born groups in the military.
War departments have occasionally cast doubt on the trustworthiness of immigrants in uniform. But military service has more often been viewed as a tool to promote universal American ideals, said Craig Cameron, an associate professor of history at Old Dominion University.
``There have been far greater fears about foreigners serving than have ever been borne out,'' Cameron said.
There have been rare problems.
Recently, an F/A-18 fighter jet mechanic stationed at Oceana Naval Air Station in Virginia Beach was detained while trying to leave his native Ukraine after a vacation. Petty Officer 3rd Class Yaroslav Ivasyuk was interrogated and asked to become a spy for his homeland, according to an interview his wife gave to WAVY-TV.
But Ivasyuk, 30, and his 5-year-old son were allowed to return to Virginia Beach on Thursday, said Cmdr. Lydia Richardson, spokeswoman for Atlantic Fleet Naval Air Force in Norfolk.
``We're glad he's back home,'' said Richardson. She declined to elaborate on his release.
Some critics worry that the American fighting force has become too much of a shortcut to citizenship.
``When the numbers were small, it's just not as big an issue,'' said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, a think tank in Washington that promotes tougher enforcement of immigration laws.
He questioned whether the incentives for noncitizens to join the American military could be so great that military service will become work Americans won't do.
But that view was largely rejected at Friday's ceremony as both officials and the newest citizen-sailors celebrated their commitments to the Navy and the country it serves.
``I already promised to give up my life for this country when I joined the Navy,'' said Seaman Joseph Maada Kpulun, 31, a payroll specialist on the dock landing ship Oak Hill, originally from Sierra Leone. ``Today is a great day, but no one should worry about people like me. We all want to serve.''
For more information on how to become an American citizen, go to the Web site www.bcis.gov
Reach Matthew Dolan at matthew.dolan@pilotonline.com or 446-2322.
Something to think about. We don't want to get to a point where one can truthfully quip: 'American freedom- defended by foreigners'
-ccm
Sorry, but these are NOT "foreigners" they are "Americans in the making". Anybody who puts his/her ass on the line for the United States DESERVES to become a citizen (and some current denizens of America should, as a result of their actions, LOSE their citizenship---but unfortunately, that will never happen).
Why are you apologizing to me?
I have nothing against foreigners. I am married to one. I served alongside many. What's the problem? I have nothing but encouragement for foreigners who want to join our military. If they don't do it- who will?
My comment was actually a barb at those who like to heap insult and abuse on foreigners and women in the military. Think about it. The reason any foreigner or woman is in the military in the first place is because a red blooded American male was absent at the recruiter's office when that job came open.
'American freedom- defended by foreigners'
Then you say:
I have nothing against foreigners.
Your original post sure sounds like you do.
There was one whose father got US citizenship by serving in the military, IIRC, who was in my flight at AF ROTC field training. He's a probably a retired Colonel by now. (and then again maybe not) (If you're out there somewhere Geronimo T. FReep mail me.) There were the sterotypical Philipino mess boys, with very poor English skills, in the Navy as late as 1974, when I visited a Navy base as a USAF officer. OTOH, my daughters' (former they are grown now) pediatrician is a Philipina, and a very competent lady she is.
Half my family are foreigners. Would it make any sense for me to hate foreigners when half my family are foreigners and I've lived in foreign countries for the past 13 years? I have no plans to return to the States for at least 3 or 4 decades.
Over the years in the Army, I served alongside many, many foreigners. If you can dig back deep enough in Free Republics archives on this matter, you can find many threads where I have defended foreigners in the military and I will continue to do so. In the last platoon I served in we had one soldier from Ireland, one from Mexico, one from Jamaica and one from Canada. Good soldiers, one and all. The Irish lad was my best friend.
Me- problems with foreigners? Quite the contrary. Most people here (if they accuse me of anything) accuse me of being overly sympathetic to foreigners. It's sort of a novel accusation for me to be accused of disliking foreigners...
But at the end of the day, my barb towards those who hate foreigners stands. If enough Americans would join the military, no foreigners would need to join. If you see a foreigner in the military it's because there's an American out there who wouldn't stand up to defend his nation. Same with those that complain about females in the military. For every woman in uniform there's a male in civvies who couldn't be bothered to join. I really enjoy throwing that barb out there as well because there's not much to be said against it and I know it irritates the chauvinists and xenophobes.
Questions?
Yep, sure did.
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