So its support our troops unless they weren’t born on US soil?
“Effective immediately, you will suspend processing of all involuntary separation actions.”
Ouch.
In the early days of WWII, our future neighbor crossed our border with Mexico and enlisted in the U.S. Navy with the intent of becoming a U.S. citizen if he was still alive after the war ended. He spoke little English, but he learned as he trained. He brought his wife to Texas where she waited for his return and delivered the first of their two children. He was assigned a ship and headed out for the Pacific theater. He took his guitar with him and sang his songs with the other Spanish speaking sailors. He survived the war and in due time he and his wife became citizens as promised. Whatever he did for work, he was very successful.
Rafael and his wife built their retirement home next door to our first home (the one we lived in for 42 years!) and helped us raise our children. Their children had already graduated from college and were successful middle class Americans living some distance away. They babysat our two young children the night number 3 was arriving in a hurry and we needed to leave for the hospital before the grandparents could get there. One of our children had medical issues early on and wouldn’t let anyone besides us hold him except these neighbors. Our daughter said later that these were her “other grandparents.” They lived next door until they were in their 90s and her Alzheimers required a move to a care facility. We missed them.
It’s a good program - you defend our country and we will make you part of us and be better for it. It is always good to weed out the Maria Butinas, but when we gain the Rafaels and their families, it makes us better. It makes us us.
the AP reported that dozens of immigrant enlistees were being discharged or had their contracts cancelled.
Alexander Hamilton: “Wait George, your going to fucking what?”
My grandmother’s four brothers, as new Dutch immigrants, all enlisted when WWII kicked off and only three came home. Sorry to all the rat bastard Republicans, but our family is so dug in and spread across the country now you’re never getting rid of us. Oh, and we all vote.
“They are willing to fight for a country that they weren’t even citizens of. I wish all Americans felt that way about their country.”
Captain Kirk Thorsteinson during a naturalization ceremony in Kuwait, June 2007
“When you enlisted into the armed forces you swore to support and defend a Constitution that did not yet fully apply to you. You chose to endure the same sacrifices as your fellow comrades in arms to preserve the freedom of a land that was not yet fully yours. You accepted that you might have to pay the ultimate price on behalf of a nation to which you did not fully belong. Now, you
will officially become citizens of the United States, a country to which each of you has already borne true faith and allegiance in your hearts and your deeds.”
General David Petraeus addressing a naturalization ceremony for 161 at Camp Victory, Iraq, on Independence Day, 2007
Gosh, I hate to be so cynical, but is there a shortage of servicemen? Has somebody already discharged filed what might be a winnable suit? Or has somebody decided that the military of all places ought to be the one place where they would stand by their word?
And I hate being cynical because damn it if you have promised a path to citizenship to someone willing to fight and possibly die in the meantime, that seems to me you have the type of person you WANT as a citizen. But that’s just me…
What did you do to become an American citizen?
White bigoted American man - “plopped out of my American mommy’s vagina.”
Foreign man - “risked my life for YOUR country, hoping it would someday be MY country.”
The reversal comes as the Defense Department has attempted to strengthen security requirements for the program, through which historically immigrants vowed to risk their lives for the promise of U.S. citizenship.
“We discovered that if we seized their children and threw them into concentration camps, we could ensure their loyalty. We’ll still throw deport them when their enlistments are up.”