Senate Democrats are delving deeper in the hotly-contested topic of undocumented immigrants serving in the military. Dick Durbin, the Senate’s No. 2 Democrat, plans to hold a hearing next week in his home state of Illinois on the role immigrants play in the U.S. Armed Forces, according to his office. His move comes as Senate Democrats consider including a provision in the National Defense Authorization Act that would allow young immigrants here unlawfully to gain legal status by serving in the military.
The hearing, slated for Monday, May 19 in Chicago, will focus specifically on the benefits of military service from the so-called “Dreamers” – immigrants brought to the United States illegally as children – who have qualified for an Obama administration initiative that has essentially halted deportations for these young immigrants. Witnesses at the hearing will testify that encouraging immigrant enlistment is “critical to military readiness and to creating a more diverse and inclusive Armed Forces,” his office said.
Durbin, who chairs the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, has been speaking with Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) about including a legalization measure for undocumented immigrants – provided that they serve in the military – in conjunction with the must-pass defense policy bill.
“I think that he would be open to my offering the amendment,” Durbin said of Levin in a recent interview. “I’ve been working on it for years with this secretary of Defense and his predecessor and the White House. I think it’s a great idea.”
But the measure has been mired in controversy in the Republican-led House, as a small group of conservatives loudly revolted last month when efforts to include a similar provision in the House NDAA became public. Rep. Jeff Denham (R-Calif.) has been the lead GOP lawmaker in the push to include the legalization measure in the annual defense policy legislation.
The immigration provision didn’t make it into the House committee version of the NDAA, which cleared the House Armed Services Committee unanimously last week. The full House is scheduled to take up the must-pass bill when lawmakers in that chamber return from their congressional recess next week.
In the Senate, the Armed Services Committee will begin working on their NDAA next week in closed-door sessions.
Durbin’s hearing will be held at the Phoenix Military Academy, one of several military academies in the Chicago Public Schools system. The public schools system in Chicago has the largest Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps program nationwide with 11,000 cadets. A 2013 NBC News report said about 10 percent of the 11,000 participants in the Chicago JROTC program do not have legal status
