Pentagon Plan to Enlist Young Immigrants Is Delayed at White House’s Request

Ianus · 05-31-2014, 11:06 PM

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/01/us...ants.html?_r=0

Quote:

A Pentagon plan to allow a small number of young immigrants who grew up in the United States without legal status to enlist in the military has been delayed by the White House, senior officials there said Saturday, to avoid any conflict with House Republicans considering whether to move on immigration legislation.

The Pentagon proposal would create a first but very limited pathway to citizenship for those who call themselves Dreamers.

In a letter to a number of senators that was drafted Wednesday, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said he had “taken initial action to allow for the enlistment” of the young immigrants.

But the White House asked Mr. Hagel to hold off taking any further steps on the new policy until August, after Congress’s summer session, the administration officials said.

President Obama said last week that he would not take any executive action on immigration during the next two months, to give Republican leaders in the House a chance to move forward on legislation that could grant legal status to illegal immigrants.

Mr. Hagel also received swift and critical responses from several senators, including Richard Durbin of Illinois, the second-highest-ranking Democrat in the Senate and a leading proponent of legislation to give citizenship to undocumented youths, which is known as the Dream Act. Mr. Durbin urged Mr. Hagel to allow enlistment of a much broader group of those youths.

To be eligible under the new Pentagon policy, young immigrants would have to have deportation deferrals under a program Mr. Obama started in 2012, known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. Mr. Hagel said those youths would be allowed to apply to enlist under a separate Defense Department program for certain temporary immigrants who have special medical or language skills.

Legal experts and immigrant leaders said the new Pentagon policy would provide at best only a very narrow path to citizenship, with perhaps no more than a handful of youths qualifying. More than 550,000 young immigrants have received deportation deferrals.

But White House officials said the president did not want any action from the executive branch that might rile Republicans during the period when they might hold votes on immigration measures. Republican leaders have accused Mr. Obama of overreaching his constitutional authority with some executive measures, including the deferred action initiative. Mr. Obama also asked Jeh C. Johnson, the secretary of Homeland Security, to postpone action on a deportations review he has conducted.

“These are both modest steps, neither of which we are taking at this time,” said Cecilia Muñoz, the White House domestic policy adviser. “We will reassess once we see what Congress does or doesn’t do.”

She added: “The president is convinced there is a legislative opportunity, and that gives us the best chance to fix what is broken in our immigration system. He wants to leave no stone unturned to let the House do what it should do.”

The youths would apply under an existing Defense Department program called Military Accessions Vital to the National Interest, known by its acronym, Mavni, which currently allows immigrants with certain temporary visas to enlist if they are doctors or have other advanced medical skills, or if they speak strategic languages including Arabic, Farsi, Hindi, and a number of African languages. The new policy would add youths with deportation deferrals to the list of those who could join the military under that program.

The Pentagon program offers an expedited path to naturalization for immigrant recruits, who can become citizens in as few as three months. Generally immigrants who are not legal permanent residents with green cards cannot enlist. Youths with deportation deferrals do not have any resident status.

But the current program has an annual quota of 1,500 places, and already is struggling with backlogs. In addition, very few immigrant youths would have the medical skills or speak the languages required for the program.

Margaret Stock, an immigration lawyer in Alaska who helped to create the immigrant enlistment program when she was an officer in the Army Reserve, said it was unclear that any of the youths would qualify for enlistment under the current terms of the Pentagon program. A more important obstacle, she said, was that they have to pass a stringent background check. Having been in the United States for any period of time without immigration papers has been a disqualifying factor for that investigation.

Cesar Vargas, a leader of the Dream Action Coalition, a youth group, who has been pressing the Pentagon to allow young immigrants to enlist, said he was heartened that Mr. Hagel had taken action, but was disappointed by the limited scope of the plan. “This policy does not fully tap into the great potential of Dreamers who want to serve this country in uniform,” he said.

Sorrybrah · 06-01-2014, 12:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ianus

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/01/us...ants.html?_r=0

Oh Barrack.

Why?

tyler129 · 06-01-2014, 12:27 AM

I was going to go to Army Recruter Office first thing Monday 10:00AM to sign up.

Should I go?

2Face · 06-01-2014, 07:28 AM

Ianus, what do you make of this brah? Possible DHS DACA expansion delayed, this delayed, and no renewal forms by "end of May." Is this good or bad news? Do you think there might be trouble brewing or a possible compromise between Obama and Boehner/Cantor?

Severity · 06-01-2014, 02:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tyler129

I was going to go to Army Recruter Office first thing Monday 10:00AM to sign up.

Should I go?

Probably Not. They're usually pretty clueless about that stuff. It depends on your situation.
The talks about mavni would only apply to a very small group. Ie our Brothers from the Philippines and other languages that aren't too common. Hispanics would definitely not benefit unless there was a broadening to who qualifies. My hopes are that it's blanket permission to DACA beneficiaries. The number of people that would benefit is based on the maximum number possible, but we all know that number is much smaller, and even then not everyone will want to go that route. However, if that is the case then I personally welcome any positive changes. Let's just hope the White House is not playing divide and conquer with the dreamer community and they feel the backlash.

neoair · 06-02-2014, 01:33 AM

I'm gonna get left out again

VeryNicePerson1 · 06-02-2014, 10:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by neoair

I'm gonna get left out again

I wouldn't get too bent out of shape over this military program.

The requirements are way too strict.

This is great news for the very small amount of people who could benefit from it, but if this is the end of Obama's program phases of granting temp relief to immigrants, then it is an embarrassing attempt.

Keep up hopes for what Obama has in store for the rest of the year, as there will hopefully be a couple of more phases, one of them maybe being a very broad one where many immigrants old & young can benefit as long they have not broken any laws etc.

tyler129 · 06-02-2014, 07:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Severity

Probably Not. They're usually pretty clueless about that stuff. It depends on your situation.
The talks about mavni would only apply to a very small group. Ie our Brothers from the Philippines and other languages that aren't too common. Hispanics would definitely not benefit unless there was a broadening to who qualifies. My hopes are that it's blanket permission to DACA beneficiaries. The number of people that would benefit is based on the maximum number possible, but we all know that number is much smaller, and even then not everyone will want to go that route. However, if that is the case then I personally welcome any positive changes. Let's just hope the White House is not playing divide and conquer with the dreamer community and they feel the backlash.

so i went to an Army Recruiting Office today and they flat out told me that MAVNI is only for legal visa holders and I'm not eligible.

Ianus · 06-02-2014, 08:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tyler129

so i went to an Army Recruiting Office today and they flat out told me that MAVNI is only for legal visa holders and I'm not eligible.

Indeed, these are proposed changes that are only suppose to go into effect if the House GOP continue their current act. Still the MAVNI idea is interesting.

Quote:

It should be interesting if they list DACA applicants as being eligible for the MAVNI process.

star293 · 06-02-2014, 10:40 PM

i took the languagge test at the MEPS and it was hella easy. i am not fluent in korean and i passed easily. and then they found out I can't join with DACA so yeah. Tehy said the test expires after 1 year so if this passes, I will have to take the test again.

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Pentagon Plan to Enlist Young Immigrants Is Delayed at White House’s Request