Nick
03-21-2006, 09:42 PM
I came across an interesting article. Its not worthee of the front page since it mostly talks about a fight thats not ours, but this piece I found interesting:
"Certainly, in the last few years, one of the promises that we hear in the Latino community is that a recruiter will tell someone, 'I can help you get citizenship,' said Jorge Mariscal, a counter-recruitment activist with the San Diego, Calif., organization Project on Youth and Non-Military Opportunities (YANO), and a Vietnam veteran. "Now, the reality of that is they cannot help you get citizenship -- they can help you apply for it sooner if you enlist. But you're not guaranteed citizenship We've met Latino kids who actually went to fight in Iraq and who came back, and their citizenship was denied for whatever minor legal infraction they might have had when they were a kid."
Young people have to be legal residents to enlist in the Armed Forces, and technically, they have to show a high school diploma. But since the outstretched U.S. army is struggling to meet its recruitment targets, the Armed Forces has had to take more people without a high school diploma. The Dream Act gives young people who are not documented two options for conditional residency -- they have to attend college or go to the military. Since Latino youth tend to come from low-income families, college is rarely seen as a feasible option.
Gives a little different angle on the DREAM Act and rectifies the commong misconception -> "Join the military, server this country, and get your citizenship. How hard could it be!"
Source: http://www.alternet.org/wiretap/33778/
"Certainly, in the last few years, one of the promises that we hear in the Latino community is that a recruiter will tell someone, 'I can help you get citizenship,' said Jorge Mariscal, a counter-recruitment activist with the San Diego, Calif., organization Project on Youth and Non-Military Opportunities (YANO), and a Vietnam veteran. "Now, the reality of that is they cannot help you get citizenship -- they can help you apply for it sooner if you enlist. But you're not guaranteed citizenship We've met Latino kids who actually went to fight in Iraq and who came back, and their citizenship was denied for whatever minor legal infraction they might have had when they were a kid."
Young people have to be legal residents to enlist in the Armed Forces, and technically, they have to show a high school diploma. But since the outstretched U.S. army is struggling to meet its recruitment targets, the Armed Forces has had to take more people without a high school diploma. The Dream Act gives young people who are not documented two options for conditional residency -- they have to attend college or go to the military. Since Latino youth tend to come from low-income families, college is rarely seen as a feasible option.
Gives a little different angle on the DREAM Act and rectifies the commong misconception -> "Join the military, server this country, and get your citizenship. How hard could it be!"
Source: http://www.alternet.org/wiretap/33778/