The Department of Defense (DoD) has announced they will allow a limited number of illegal immigrants, possessing needed skills, into the military.
Young immigrants with a legal status as Deferred Action Childhood Arrival (DACA) will now be admitted into the American military if they possess certain skills needed for managing the conflict in Afghanistan. These could include background experience, skills in needed health care fields, or the ability to understand languages.
"The president is determined to act, within the scope of his authority, to fix as much of our broken immigration system as he can through executive action and he will act before the end of the year. But nothing will replace the long-lasting solutions only Congress can offer through commonsense immigration reform, and the president will keep pressing Congress to act," an anonymous White House official told the press, according to NBC.
Acceptance under DACA status into the military provides these youth an additional method of acquiring U.S. citizenship that was not previously available.
An immigration bill developed in the Democrat-controlled Senate would have provided young immigrants a three-year path to citizenship, provided two of those were served in military forces. The House of Representatives, controlled by Republicans, never brought the proposal to a vote.
"The department has a critical need for qualified health care professionals and individuals with certain language capabilities, as well as associated cultural backgrounds," Lt. Cmdr. Nate Christensen, a spokesman for the Department of Defense, told the press.
The Military Accessions Vital to National Interest (Mavni) program was started as a pilot program in 2009. When first developed, the ruling only applied to legal immigrants to the U.S., including those with refugee or asylum status. The program was due to end on Sept. 30 but was renewed with the change allowing a number of illegal aliens to participate in military forces. The new rule change allows a maximum of 1,500 immigrants with DACA status to join the military each year.
Attending college in the U.S. can be difficult for immigrants, who are subject to work restrictions, preventing them from earning enough for higher education. The new program will encompass immigrant youths who were younger than 16 when their parents brought them to the U.S.
"[W]e must remember that the record deportations under the Obama Administration continue to weigh heavily on the immigrant community... these deportations take place under the authority of the agencies of the Obama Administration, and it is time for Barack Obama to take responsibility for it," the DRM Action Coalition wrote in a letter from September 2013 urging the expansion of the DACA program.
Language skills, which could earn immigrant youth military admission, include the ability to speak Arabic, Pashto, Chinese or Farsi. While the Army accepts several recruits under the Mavni program, the Air Force has taken in just a few, and the Marines and Navy have largely shunned the system.
