Posted on 06/16/2007 8:41:46 AM PDT by BornInASmallTown
WASHINGTON -- A little-noticed provision in the proposed immigration bill would grant instant legal status and ultimately full citizenship to illegal immigrants if they enlist in the US military, an idea the Pentagon and military analysts say would boost the Pentagon's flagging efforts to find and recruit qualified soldiers.
The Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act, or DREAM Act, is part of the stalled package of proposals that many in Congress are seeking to resurrect. The proposal, applicable to an estimated 750,000 undocumented residents of military age, stipulates that those who arrived in the United States before age 16, graduated from high school, and meet other qualifications could immediately enter the path to citizenship in exchange for at least two years' service in the armed forces.
Though the overall immigration bill was sidetracked earlier this month amid bitter infighting, the prospect of using military service as one pathway to citizenship appeals both to lawmakers who side with immigration rights advocates and those who want tougher immigration laws and tighter borders.
The prospect of recruiting foreigners to defend the United States has been a charged issue in the past. The Pentagon, for example, has opposed several proposals from leading defense specialists to recruit troops overseas -- a move critics liken to hiring mercenaries. Using the military service option for select illegal immigrants, however, appears to have widespread support as one way to deal with the burgeoning illegal immigration problem.
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
>>A little-noticed provision in the proposed immigration bill would grant instant legal status<<
They already get “instant legal status” without any military service in the amnesty bill. It seems to me that the “instant amnesty” in the bill would actually remove that incentive for illegals to serve.
This is earned citizenship.
That's a good point--I hadn't thought through the Muslim issue. As long as we pretend Muslims are the same as everyone else, it's a big problem.
It's a pity that an approach that works really well for assimilating almost every group would be torched because of legitimate concerns that Muslims would abuse it.
So I amend my earlier answer. I think its a good idea as long as we exclude Muslims.
Maybe legal immigrants need 2 years. Illegal immigrants that make it to a recruiter and are safe in the sancuary of Camp Lejeune or Twentynine Palms before the ICE deportation crew gets them, they have to serve at least 4 years.
750,000? Hmmmmm?
How soon can we get them trained and lined up on the Iranian border?
“Al Qaeda and the world know fully well of our porous land border and the lack of resolve we have in securing it and our day of reckoning is coming soon. This time around we will have no one to blame but ourselves.”
You nailed it!
“They are trespassers. We haven’t a clue who they are.
We ain’t talking about a rational number of immigrants, we are talking about a whole shit load of trespassers. Many of which hate America. There are a million score of these cockroaches that have invaded us. Give then citizenship via military service and we have the Mexican Army here, defending us. What in the hell is wrong with you people? You take stupid pills or what?”
Good point!!
“Oh great! Now let’s give them guns and training”
Next Bush will want the illegals to police the borders........
ROTFLMAO!!
Most of them are high school dropouts and don't speak English. The idea that the miliary is salivating over this new source of volunteers is nonsense.
In Mexico, this is quite widely known.
There was a program of this sort in 1974 when I enlisted. A soldier I knew in basic was from the Phillipines, and was expecting to become a citizen at the end of his enlistment.
This is a GOOD idea amid a plethora of horrible ones in the amnesty bill.
The Romans used to think so too.
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