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Posted on Sun, May. 21, 2006
Fighting for citizenship
Military service a fast track to the American dream
By Dogen Hannah
CONTRA COSTA TIMES
One fled his war-torn African homeland to join his mother in New York City.
Another dashed across the border after leaving her Mexican hometown to join her father in California.
A young man crossed the Pacific, leaving Burma in search of a better education and job.
Despite their far-flung origins, the lives and dreams of Agyeman Danso, Vanessa Quintero-Espinoza and Kevin Phone converged when they came to the United States, joined the military and became citizens.
As troops fight in Iraq and as America debates whether to tighten or loosen immigration controls, tens of thousands of immigrants -- not all of them legal -- are following a time-honored road to citizenship by serving in the armed forces.
"Immigrants have served in the military since the dawn of the Republic as a means of becoming part of our society sooner," said professor Margaret Stock, an expert in military and immigration law at the U.S. military academy at West Point, N.Y.
"It's making the ultimate sacrifice for your new community."
The prospect of swelling military ranks with foreigners, even those who go on to become citizens, alarms some advocates of tougher immigration rules.
"Naturalization is good; serving in the military is good," said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, which supports tighter immigration controls.
"The question is: Is it a good idea to have lots of noncitizens in the military and, maybe even more important, is it a good idea to make military service a way of gaining immigration benefits?"
Others have proposed that the military, stretched thin by more than four years of fighting overseas, enlist and actively recruit foreigners, including people illegally in the United States.
"No doubt many would be willing to serve for some set period in return for one of the world's most precious commodities -- U.S. citizenship," wrote Max Boot, a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, in a February 2005 Los Angeles Times article.
"Open up recruiting stations from Budapest to Bangkok, Cape Town to Cairo, Montreal to Mexico City."
As extreme as that might sound, a U.S. military historian said there are ample precedents for naturalizing foreigners in exchange for their wartime service. Also, while the military generally bars illegal immigrants, a law enacted this year gives it broader authority to enlist them, Stock said.
U.S. quickens process
With about 135,000 service members in the Iraq war and with more troops in Afghanistan, the government has quickened the pace at which immigrants in the military can become citizens.
At least 24,745 service members, including Californians Quintero-Espinoza, Danso and Phone, have become naturalized citizens in the past four-plus years. At least 3,500 citizenship applications from service members are pending.
They are the beneficiaries of a long-standing law that allows the president, in a time of war, to waive the usual wait to apply. President Bush's July 3, 2002, executive order enabled active-duty military men and women who have served after Sept. 11, 2001, to apply immediately.
"Thousands of our men and women in uniform were born in other countries and now spend each day in honorable service to their adopted land," Bush said at a July 4, 2002, celebration in West Virginia. "Many of them are still waiting for the chance to become American citizens."
The opportunity to accelerate toward citizenship was at least part of what spurred many immigrants to enlist. Among them was Airman 1st Class Gina Valencia, 24, of Travis Air Force Base, who enlisted in 2004.
"I was going to wait five years to get citizenship, but I came into the Air Force and actually sped it up," Valencia said. She was 6 when she came to the United States from Peru with her mother. They stayed after entering on a tourist visa.
Like many of her immigrant and native-born comrades in arms, Valencia also joined the military for adventure and travel opportunities, for education and career benefits and for patriotic reasons.
"When all the terrorist attacks happened here, I felt it was happening to my country," said Valencia, who grew up in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. "This is home now."
Fast track to citizenship
Civilians have to be legal permanent residents for five years to apply for citizenship. When not at war, service members must serve at least one year on active duty -- down from three years since 2004 -- to qualify.
Once America went to war and after Bush's executive order, the military, Congress and Citizenship and Immigration Services began waiving service members' application fees, fast-tracking applications and making it easier for immigrants to become citizens even while deployed overseas.
Many were naturalized within months of applying.
"I didn't know it was going to be as easy as it was because my mom had been trying to get her citizenship for many years (and) it was a long, drawn-out process," said Danso, a 21-year-old Marine corporal from Ghana in western Africa.
Danso became a citizen in May 2005, about six months after he applied.
"In order for me to make any big moves in the United States, I had to become a citizen," said Danso, who was 8 when he came to America and who grew up in Queens, N.Y. "It opens up a lot more doors."
Other service members became citizens even more quickly.
After enlisting in the Air Force in March 2004, Quintero-Espinoza applied for citizenship in late January. In mid-April, the airman first class joined 341 other soon-to-be citizens for a swearing-in at a Sacramento theater.
"It feels good to know I'm a part of the country," said Quintero-Espinoza, 23, who was 6 when she traveled through the Southern California desert with her mother to enter America illegally. "Nobody can kick me out of here. My rights will be defended."
In exchange, Quintero-Espinoza and her comrades assumed responsibilities and risks, including being sent to fight in Iraq or Afghanistan. Phone, 24, the airman first class who came from Burma in 2002, didn't hesitate to volunteer to serve a nation willing to help him get ahead in life.
"I would be grateful to meet somebody who offers you what you want" in return for accepting an obligation, said Phone, who became a citizen about two years after enlisting. "That's fair -- totally fair -- I think."
A history of service
That deal, with the promise of naturalization, has appealed to millions of immigrants and the military throughout American history. The Army, in particular, has sought out and relied on immigrant recruits, especially during wars.
In the 1840s, almost half of all recruits were not U.S. citizens, said Conrad Crane, director of the Army Military History Institute at the Army War College in Carlisle, Penn. "They're just right off the boat, basically."
During the Civil War, the government promised citizenship to immigrants, and recruiters sailed overseas to make the pitch. Noncitizens constituted as much as 20 percent of the 1.5 million-man Union Army.
"Some of them were attracted, of course, by glory; some of them by a chance for adventure," Crane said. "For a lot of them, citizenship is the promise."
So many immigrants populated the ranks during World War I that the Army was dubbed the "American foreign legion" in Europe. After the war, an Army unit of 14 nationalities toured the United States to recruit immigrants, touting the promise of naturalization.
Many immigrants fought in World War II, but patriotism more than citizenship drove enlistment, Crane said. Conscription also helped fill the ranks and continued to do so until the all-volunteer military returned in the 1970s.
Military resource
Given that history, Bush's executive order fast-tracking citizenship was no surprise, Crane said. With the Iraq war in its fourth year and military recruiters struggling, speedy naturalization can attract volunteers and is a fitting reward.
"When times get tough to fill the Army and immigrants are available, they're a resource," Crane said.
Despite raising enlistment bonuses and offering other new incentives, the Army has had a tough time attracting people. It missed its target last year by 6,600 recruits. April was its worst month effort since last summer.
The military typically accepts only U.S. citizens or legal residents. Illegal immigrants have slipped in, in some cases with fake citizenship or immigration documents, said Stock, the U.S. military academy professor.
As a result of Bush's order, illegal immigrants serving honorably on active duty and meeting other requirements are eligible to apply for citizenship, Stock said. Also, a new law gives the military the authority to enlist at any time anyone, even an illegal immigrant, whose enlistment is deemed "vital to the national interest."
"They could form a foreign legion right now," Stock said. "I get calls all the time from illegal immigrants who want to join the military."
For the most part, recruiters have not targeted noncitizens, said Douglas Smith, spokesman for the Army's recruiting command. Recruiting that targets populations of noncitizens likely accounts for at least some of the noncitizen recruits, he said.
California's Army National Guard recruiters do not systematically seek noncitizens, Guard officials said. They do point out that soldiers can get on the naturalization fast track, said spokeswoman Lt. Toni Gray.
"For us, noncitizens contribute valuable language and cultural expertise," Gray said. "The value of their skills, however, is often surpassed by their sincere appreciation and commitment to our nation."
Noncitizens have been military standouts, according to a May 2005 study by the Center for Naval Analyses, a federally funded research organization serving the military. For instance, they are about half as likely as their U.S.-born comrades to wash out before completing their enlistment.
The military's need for foreign-language speakers recently spurred the Army to relax enlistment requirements, including maximum age and English proficiency, to attract people with such native skills, reported the Center for Naval Analyses.
Opposition
Not everyone is pleased at the prospect of increasing the number of noncitizens in the military.
Among the critics is Krikorian, head of the group that wants stricter immigration controls. What concerns him is the potential for the combination of military needs and political pressure from immigration advocates to widen the ranks and expand benefits for noncitizens.
"This is one of those feel-good issues, at least for politicians," he said. "There's no reason that it wouldn't be tacked on to an immigration bill, if one were to come up."
Krikorian hasn't much of an argument, says Rep. Hilda Solis, D-El Monte, who favors expanded benefits for noncitizen soldiers. The California congresswoman said immigrants have proved their value to the military and have earned their benefits.
"I think he's barking up the wrong tree," Solis said.
Spc. Cristianne Silva, 29, said enlisting in the California Army National Guard helped her complete a journey that began eight years ago, when she left her native Brazil and illegally entered America in search of a better life.
After cleaning houses and doing other jobs, Silva hired an immigration lawyer and became a legal resident. She learned that her military service could help her become a citizen after she joined the Army in 2003 and was sent to Iraq.
"I'm still, actually, kind of shocked that I have accomplished this," said Silva, who was naturalized in April in Sacramento.
"After so long of dreaming, now, finally, I can say: Yes, I am a citizen."
Times staff writer Steven Harmon contributed to this story. Reach Dogen Hannah at 925-945-4794 or dhannah@cctimes.com.
• Noncitizens in the U.S. military
Navy
14,859
Army
11,965
Marine Corps
7,699
Air Force
2,217
Total
36,740
• SINCE SEPT. 11, 2001, more than 35,000 U.S. military men and women have applied for naturalization.
-- U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, March 2006.
• FROM 1862 TO 2000, more than 660,000 U.S. military veterans became citizens through naturalization.
• TOP 10 BIRTH COUNTRIES of enlisted non-U.S. citizens:
1. Mexico
2. Philippines
3. Jamaica
4. Dominican Republic
5. El Salvador
6. Haiti
7. Colombia
8. South Korea
9. Trinidad and Tobago
10. Peru
• OF THE 36.6 MILLION 18- to 24-year-old potential recruits nationwide, about 1.5 million, or 4 percent, are legal residents but not citizens.
Source: Center for Naval Analyses, May 2005.
• THE MILITARY BARS noncitizens from sensitive positions, including those requiring security clearances. While the Navy and Marine Corps do not limit noncitizens from re-enlisting, the Army allows them to re-enlist only once, and the Air Force limits them to one four- or six-year enlistment.
• MORE THAN 40,000 people in the U.S. military from more than 200 countries are eligible to apply for naturalization. They constitute about 3 percent of the U.S. military.
Sources: U.S. Department of Defense and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
• THE PERCENTAGE of noncitizens among Army recruits has fluctuated between 3 percent and 4 percent annually since the beginning of 2002. Data from earlier years were unavailable.
Source: U.S. Army Recruiting Command.
© 2006 ContraCostaTimes.com and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.
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