THIS WEEK, Congressman Charlie Rangel (D-NY) presented papers granting United States citizenship to the family of a fallen U.S. soldier in recognition of his service to the nation, a country of which he only now is officially a son. Corporal Juan Alcantara was the latest of 103 such soldiers to receive citizenship posthumously. No matter where one stands on the question of illegal immigration and its potential consequences, no matter how stringently one wants to punish those here illegally, the fact that a soldier serving in the United States military only received the rights and benefits enjoyed by every U.S. citizen after he gave his life to defend them seems, at best, ungrateful. Although the military has done a good job expediting the naturalization process for soldiers, more can still be done. All illegal immigrants willing to serve voluntarily in the military ought to receive conditional citizenship instantly upon enlisting and fully upon reporting for duty, and the same rights ought to extend to their spouses and dependents.
According to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, more than 33,750 soldiers have received legal U.S. citizen status while serving overseas. An article on the Army's Web site, however, states that there are more than 40,000 non-citizens serving in the military. Fortunately, the government and Army have taken steps to help them, amending the Immigration and Nationality Act so that now anyone who has "served honorably on active duty in the U.S. Armed Forces ... on or after September 11, 2001 are eligible to file for immediate citizenship." The opportunity also extends to the spouses, children and parents of servicemen who are killed and receive their citizenship posthumously. The Army has also launched measures such as an immigration aid hotline that servicemen and women can call from all over the world to receive help tracking the necessary paperwork and getting aid in garnering citizenship for his or her family, when necessary.
While these measures mark major progress in easing the movement toward citizenship for those illegal immigrants who choose to serve, the process could be expedited slightly, which would reduce the likelihood of non-citizens having to receive the rewards of their service posthumously. The citizenship application process should begin as soon as a person enlists, and his or her application should be processed quickly enough to ensure that it is complete by the time he or she reports for duty. If parents, spouses or children wish to apply as well, they should be collected and pushed through as a package. This would allow the person serving in the Armed Forces to officially belong to the country he or she volunteered to serve. It would also help avoid the pain of posthumous applications suffered by surviving relatives in the event that the soldier should be killed. Finally, it would be a fitting gesture of the United States's gratitude for anyone willing to risk their life for our land.
Illegal immigration looms as a highly contentious topic for politicians recently, especially given the pending 2008 presidential election. The debate centers on border security and the perception of illegal immigrants as a drain on U.S. citizens. Border security, of course, is of the utmost importance in the war on terror. Heroes such as Alcantara cloud the issue, showing that, contrary to popular opinion, not all immigrants are purely a drain on the American taxpayer.. And no matter whether one favors deporting all illegal immigrants or whether one would prefer to grant amnesty to each and every one of them,someone volunteering to actively fight for a country in the hopes of making it his or her own ought not be denied every opportunity and every aid in making that dream a reality.
Perhaps in some cases it would have been impossible to garner all of the necessary information for full citizenship. But think how much it might have meant to each of the 103 soldiers who received his or her citizenship after being killed if he or she had been able to stand up and swear the Oath of Allegiance to the U.S. Constitution, giving them a real stake in the country he or she sought to defend.
Progress has been made, but an expedited process for these soldiers would be an excellent gesture on the behalf of a nation that ought to be grateful.
Robby Colby's column appears Thursdays in The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at rcolby@cavalierdaily.com.
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