By Stella Templo
Immigration Attorney, The Law Offices of Spar & Bernstein
Citizenship through Military Service
Section 329 of the Immigration and Nationality Act states that “[a]n alien or a noncitizen national of the United States” who “has served honorably” in the armed forces during a “period which the President by Executive order shall designate as a period in which the Armed Forces of the United States are or were engaged in military operations involving armed conflict . . . may be naturalized . . . whether or not he has been lawfully admitted to the United States for permanent residence…”
With wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, we are in such a “designated period” now. A recent regulatory change also allows for the naturalization of all other persons who served for three years not included in a “designated period.”
Since October 2004, almost 8,000 soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines have been naturalized through their honorable service while serving their deployment.
Of these 8,000 heroes, there is no official count of how many could not have obtained naturalization under any other way according to our current immigration laws. Section 329 does not draw distinctions along a service member’s immigration status. The only fact of consequence is the person’s honorable service.
Consequently, many persons in the U.S. who are dedicated to the United States but have no method of obtaining lawful status in the U.S. enlist in the military.
Military regulations actually prohibit the enlistment of undocumented or illegal aliens into the military; however, some unscrupulous military recruiters have looked the other way.
In a few egregious cases, recruiters have conspired in fraud to enlist the ineligible persons by providing fake social security numbers for the recruits. This behavior is a dramatic example of how the unprotected members of our society are preyed upon and forced into difficult situations.
In some cases, it is not poetry, but truth that a person without recourse of legalizing his or her status in the U.S. in any other way gave the full measure of devotion. While it is right that we should honor their service, it is unconscionable that they pay for their citizenship by risking death.
Undoubtedly, these brave men and women would make valuable contributions to our civil society if given that opportunity as well.
This government should work to make that happen.
