R
Ramon F Herrera
Guest
Ruben Navarrette: Be wary of offering military service as a path to
citizenship for illegal immigrants.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/08/13/navarette.opinion/index.html
SAN DIEGO, California (CNN) -- What if we offered illegal immigrants
a path to citizenship that included a stint in the U.S. military?
The idea has been trumpeted by thoughtful people such as Max Boot, a
fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, who thinks this is the
time for a "freedom legion." He's talking about a unit of the military
made up entirely of the foreign-born -- including illegal immigrants
-- where the compensation would include U.S. citizenship.
About 70,000 foreign-born men and women serve in the U.S. armed
forces, or about 5 percent of the total active-duty force, according
to the Pentagon. Of those, nearly 30,000 -- or about 43 percent -- are
not U.S. citizens.
Roping illegal immigrants into military service could accomplish two
goals at once: helping alleviate the military's recruitment worries
while giving the undocumented a chance to prove that their commitment
to this country extends beyond a paycheck.
We're already talking about requiring illegal immigrants to learn
English, pay fines, and return to their home countries to earn legal
status. Why not, some say, raise the stakes and require men and women
between 18 and 42 to serve a couple of years in the military to earn
something even more precious: U.S. citizenship for themselves and
their children?
The idea appealed to a reader in upstate New York who called me to
gauge my reaction. I told him that I hadn't made up my mind, but that
the concept did fit with my view that any conferring of legal status
be laden with onerous conditions so that it really is earned. To earn
it, illegal immigrants should have to do everything but walk across
broken glass.
Still, I told him, I'm not sure how those who oppose comprehensive
reform but support turning illegal immigrants into cannon fodder go
about squaring that circle. Restrictionists and racists have argued
that illegal immigrants are invading this country, and that they're a
dangerous menace to society that is prone to all sorts of violent and
criminal behavior.
Of course, many native-born U.S. citizens are just as menacing. But
for those who believe that illegal immigrants are inherently violent,
do they really want to give these folks military training and a M-16,
to help them graduate from menacing to lethal? After all, assuming
they survive their stint in the military, they eventually have to
return stateside. Then they're our problem.
Consider the ghastly events in Newark, New Jersey, where three African-
American students were killed execution-style and a fourth was shot in
the head but survived. The accused ringleader is Jose Carranza, an
illegal immigrant from Peru, who was previously charged with raping a
5-year-old girl and threatening her parents.
Twice indicted by grand juries, Carranza slipped through the cracks
and was released on bail. Authorities say that the 28-year-old
construction worker led at least four other individuals in attacking
the youths with a gun and a machete. If convicted, Carranza could get
the death penalty.
Glad to hear it. If half the things they say about this creep are
true, Carranza belongs on death row. But guess what? He sure doesn't
belong on an Army recruitment poster, or handling heavy artillery.
Ruben Navarrette Jr. is a member of the editorial board of The San
Diego Union-Tribune and a nationally syndicated columnist with the
Washington Post Writers Group.
citizenship for illegal immigrants.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/08/13/navarette.opinion/index.html
SAN DIEGO, California (CNN) -- What if we offered illegal immigrants
a path to citizenship that included a stint in the U.S. military?
The idea has been trumpeted by thoughtful people such as Max Boot, a
fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, who thinks this is the
time for a "freedom legion." He's talking about a unit of the military
made up entirely of the foreign-born -- including illegal immigrants
-- where the compensation would include U.S. citizenship.
About 70,000 foreign-born men and women serve in the U.S. armed
forces, or about 5 percent of the total active-duty force, according
to the Pentagon. Of those, nearly 30,000 -- or about 43 percent -- are
not U.S. citizens.
Roping illegal immigrants into military service could accomplish two
goals at once: helping alleviate the military's recruitment worries
while giving the undocumented a chance to prove that their commitment
to this country extends beyond a paycheck.
We're already talking about requiring illegal immigrants to learn
English, pay fines, and return to their home countries to earn legal
status. Why not, some say, raise the stakes and require men and women
between 18 and 42 to serve a couple of years in the military to earn
something even more precious: U.S. citizenship for themselves and
their children?
The idea appealed to a reader in upstate New York who called me to
gauge my reaction. I told him that I hadn't made up my mind, but that
the concept did fit with my view that any conferring of legal status
be laden with onerous conditions so that it really is earned. To earn
it, illegal immigrants should have to do everything but walk across
broken glass.
Still, I told him, I'm not sure how those who oppose comprehensive
reform but support turning illegal immigrants into cannon fodder go
about squaring that circle. Restrictionists and racists have argued
that illegal immigrants are invading this country, and that they're a
dangerous menace to society that is prone to all sorts of violent and
criminal behavior.
Of course, many native-born U.S. citizens are just as menacing. But
for those who believe that illegal immigrants are inherently violent,
do they really want to give these folks military training and a M-16,
to help them graduate from menacing to lethal? After all, assuming
they survive their stint in the military, they eventually have to
return stateside. Then they're our problem.
Consider the ghastly events in Newark, New Jersey, where three African-
American students were killed execution-style and a fourth was shot in
the head but survived. The accused ringleader is Jose Carranza, an
illegal immigrant from Peru, who was previously charged with raping a
5-year-old girl and threatening her parents.
Twice indicted by grand juries, Carranza slipped through the cracks
and was released on bail. Authorities say that the 28-year-old
construction worker led at least four other individuals in attacking
the youths with a gun and a machete. If convicted, Carranza could get
the death penalty.
Glad to hear it. If half the things they say about this creep are
true, Carranza belongs on death row. But guess what? He sure doesn't
belong on an Army recruitment poster, or handling heavy artillery.
Ruben Navarrette Jr. is a member of the editorial board of The San
Diego Union-Tribune and a nationally syndicated columnist with the
Washington Post Writers Group.
