Photo: Banished Veterans - They are promised citizenship, serve, are injured, then deported
Thousands of U.S. veterans that are deported and separated from their American families or are under threat of deportation are requesting media, President Obama and public support for a new Resolution (below) drawn by Banished Veterans, a group advocating for immigrants recruited to the U.S. military with promise of citizenship, a promise now broken.
Fast tracked citizenship promise to recruit military personnel - broken
"When your tour ends," Obama said to those now serving, "when you touch our soil, you will be home in America that is forever here for you, just as you've been there for us. That is my promise."
Banished Veterans aim for the President to bring these troops home as he promised.
The U.S. Army strengthened efforts to recruit more skilled soldiers by offering a fast track to U.S. citizenship if immigrants enlist. (Voice of America News, US Army recruits immigrants, Rewards them with citizenship, 13 April, 2009)
Many answered the call, many of whom are college graduates and received Medals ofHonor, but were then detained and/or deported.
According to the Cato Institute, immigrants account for more than 20% of recipients of Congressional Medals of Honor, the country's highest award for battlefield valor, equating to more than 700 immigrants who served the U.S. in wars with heroism "beyond the call of duty," many losing lives or seriously injured - but many of whom have been deported by ICE. (Immigration and Illegal Aliens More a Blessing thank a Burden - Statement of Sen. Patrick Leahy, ranking member, Senate Judiciary Committee Immigration Subcommittee Hearing on 'Immigrant Contributions to the Armed Forces, May 26, 2009)
Blaming immigrants for the present U.S. woes may have been fashionable in the past, but more Americans today reject what has been called racist-based propaganda and are instead becoming conscious of injustices causing refugees to seek safe haven in the U.S. and even risk their lives as servicemembers for the "land of liberty."
The Banished Veterans group has a following on Facebook where they are spreading the word to millions of people about the injustice of their plight.
More than 30,000 non-citizens currently serve in the US army.
Approximately 3,000 military veterans from wars in Vietnam, Grenada, Libya, Iraq and Afghanistan are currently deported or imprisoned awaiting deportation. Most of their cases involve misdemeanors and felonies. Some combat Veterans are being deported after serving time in jail, and some without any jail time at all. (Leo Paz, Veterans face deportations despite promises of citizenship, Free Speech Radio News, audio report, November 11, 2009)
The case of Anslem Ifill Gulf War Vet with PTSD arrested, detained and deported by ICE
Anslem Ifill is a native of Trinidad and legal US resident. Ifill served in the first Gulf War and then diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder PTSD.
After his service, Ifill got in trouble with the law and spent a number of years in prison.
His story about mental injury and related unwanted behavior is not that unusual. (See Iraq Vet forced interrogation and threatened beating for defending human rights, Examiner, November 26, 2009)
Almost half of the Vietnam veterans with PTSD have been arrested or jailed.
What is unusual is that, after serving his time, Ifill was detained by ICE for an additional three years and finally advised that he was to be deported.
Anslem Ifill has spent 25 years in the US and served this country by putting his life on the line.
Numerous such cases are highlighted on the Banished Veterans page, List and Stories of Veterans Facing Deportation & Deported Vterans.
ICE deporting immigrant veterans 'national disgrace'
Following the resolution passing, banished servivemember now in Mexico, Hector Lopez stated today, "Now all we need is to bring it to the attention of the media and then the President. After that, we can come home to the country that we served and defended, and were willing to die for."
"A few weeks ago, I introduced the Fairness to Immigrant Veterans Act of 1999, S.871. This bill would restore for veterans the opportunity to go before an immigration judge to present the equities of their case and to have a federal court review any deportation decision. It would also restore for veterans the opportunity to be released," stated Lopez. (See More about detention and being at home with their families while their case is under consideration.)
"We are moving right along and [need media help to] expose this injustice real soon so that we may come home to the country that we served and defended,and were willing to die for, said Lopez,
Our national policy on deportation of veterans is particularly disgraceful at a time when we are sending tens of thousands of U.S. servicemen and women, including untold numbers of non-naturalized immigrants, into harm's way in Iraq and Afghanistan. Why on earth has Congress asked the INS to devote its limited resources to hunting down immigrants who previously answered this country's call to duty, some of whom were permanently disabled in the course of their service?
Lopez asks indpendent journalists, "Will you PLEASE help us bring this unjust and unfair treatment of VETERANS of The United States Armed Forces to light as soon as possible?"
Resolution
Resolution on amending the United States Code to clearly state that US military servicemembers are non-citizen nationals and petition the Department of Homeland Security to stay their removal from the United States of America;
1. Whereas United States Servicemembers are being and have been deported after serving in the military from the United States;
2. Whereas the current United States Code provides: that the term “national of the United States” means:
(A) a citizen of the United States, or
(B) a person who, though not a citizen of the United States, owes permanent
allegiance to the United States.
3. Whereas Federal law requires everyone who enlists or re-enlists in the Armed Forces of the United States to take the enlistment oath. This oath is a permanent oath of allegiance to the United States of America. The oath is traditionally performed in front of the United States Flag and other flags, such as the state flag, military branch flag and states:
“I, (NAME), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.”
4. Whereas The Oath of Enlistment is quite similar to the Oath of Citizenship which is also a permanent oath of allegiance to the United States of America and states:
“I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God.”
5. Whereas US Military Veterans are currently being deported or have been deported have a long history in the United States:
a. They are legal permanent residents “Green Card Veterans” prior to entering the
military;
b. They have served in all branches of the military for years;
c. They have served in Vietnam, Grenada, Kosovo, Somalia, Persian Gulf, Iraq,
Afghanistan;
d. They have lived from16 – 48 years legally in the United States;
e. Their Parents, Spouses, Children, Siblings, Partners are United States Citizens and
Legal Permanent Residents.
f. They are Business Owners;
g. They are recipients of the GI Bill
6. Whereas they are subject to removal or have been removed due to criminal convictions;
7. Whereas the U.S. has a duty to protect those who protected it, regardless of their personal character. The United States now, and historically, has treated aliens admitted for an indefinite period, whether as lawful permanent residents, refugees, or asylees, as other countries would treat noncitizen “nationals” or subjects.” It requires these individuals to submit to the draft, to have an allegiance of political loyalty to the United States subjecting them to the death penalty for betraying that allegiance, and itself treats the individuals when in uniform as American nationals for a variety of purposes, including American jurisdiction in its Status-of-Forces Agreements.
8. Whereas the removal of veterans, particularly those who served during times of hostility, present a number of problems that the removal of other aliens do not:
(1) There is a moral question as to whether the character flaws and, in some instances, the commission of a crime, that would lead to denial of citizenship, are themselves the result of the psychological stress of service in war;
(2) There is the possible loss of native citizenship rendering the individual stateless;
(3) There is the possibility of criminal charges awaiting the alien in their native land for his service in the war; and
(4) There is possible exposure to the jurisdiction of the ICC (even though the US doesn’t partake) or the courts of their native lands for alleged war crimes committed while in an American uniform.
Therefore be it resolved that the National Lawyers Guild calls upon the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate to amend the United States Code to clearly state
“The following shall be nationals*, but not citizens of the United States: (1) A person who, by conscription or enlistment, entered any branch of the United States armed forces. This shall be retroactive to service persons previously removed from the United States.”
Be it further resolved National Lawyers Guild calls upon the Department of Homeland Security to stay their removal from the United States of America;
Be it further resolved that the National Lawyers Guild will establish an NLG Banished Veterans Committee open to all members to coordinate action by the NLG in support of legislation to clearly state that US military servicemembers are noncitizen nationals and petition the Department of Homeland Security to stay their removal from the United States of America, to work with national and grassroots impeachment organizations, and to provide legal assistance for those efforts to strengthen the national campaign; and
Be it further resolved that the NLG Banished Veterans Committee will help organize and coordinate events at the local, state, and national level to build public participation in the campaign to educate the public, to push for enactment of legislation and a stay of removal for these veterans without further delay; and
Be it further resolved that the NLG Banished Veterans Committee will coordinate and assist all willing NLG members in contacting their respective members of Congress to urge support of the legislation to ask their respective member of Congress to support upcoming legislation, (bill numbers to be announced) and request the Department of Homeland Security to stay the removal of the US military veterans; and
Be it further resolved that the National Lawyers Guild calls on all other state and national bar
associations, state and local government bodies, community organizations, labor unions to adopt similar resolutions and to use all their resources to build the campaign to clearly state that US military servicemembers are noncitizen nationals and petition the Department of Homeland Security to stay their removal from the United States of America; and
Be it further resolved that the National Lawyers Guild will forward a copy of this resolution to
the Speaker and the Clerk of the US House of Representatives, to Representative John Conyers,
Chair of the House Judiciary Committee, to Representative Bob Filner, Chair of the House Veteran Affairs Committee, to the various state and federal bar associations, to other peace and justice organizations, other military organizations, and to the news media.
Implementation: By the NLG Banished Veterans Committee established by this resolution, by the National Immigration Project, by the Military Law Task Force, by the San Diego NLG Chapter and by interested local chapters.
Comments
Military service SHOULD BE REQUIRED of all immigrants..
Both Male and Female... and then they can become citizens.
This wholesale dropping them off at the airport... giving them healtcare, the SAME benefits of a Citizen...
Without them SERVING our country... is a joke..
Worst case situation... INSTEAD of paying civilian contractors... we train, and arm the immigrants and LET them drive the supply trucks and etc.
You want the same benefits as a citizen... then you EARN that right... BOTH MALE AND FEMALES..
Muslims... get to drive the patrol vehicles in their own country..
Let American Citizens... not be put at risk in a MUSLIM country.
Yeah, seems a little on the angry side. I look forward to the day when we no longer divide the world up into them and us. I grow tired of so many working so hard to keep the world at war.
This treatment of U.S.Military Veterans is unjust and unfair, especially after we have paid our debt to society for our mistakes.The same society that we served and defended,and were willing to give our lives for.This injustice must be corrected,and our U.S.Military Veterans must be given the respect the deserve. They have earned it by serving to defend and protect the rights and freedoms of all American Citizens.
Do you enjoy your rights and freedoms as an American Citizen,then thank a VETERAN of THE UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES.
miller, define the word immigrant. unless you're a native american as most mexicans are, i don't think you should be too vocal on the subject. i'm a micronesian veteran and one of the many reasons why you or yours didn't have to worry about the draft for the past 30 something years. what's needed in this forum are solutions- not more insults adding to the injuries already inflicted!
Why are we spending money on this? There are better things that we should be concentrating on. Beating up on American Vet's is definitely a discrace and President Obama should spank those idiots for coming up with stuff like this.
I finally got a computer last week and just yesterday i read about Banished Veterans. I too have been deported. I 'had' lived in the United States as a 'lawful permanent resident' (LPR) since the age of 1 year, i am now 57. I am an honorably discharged military veteran. I served during the Viet Nam conflict and sad to say that Ihave now been deported. I see that there haven't been any new postings on this site since last Mar.-May, 2010. Is this movement still active or was is shot down for being too controversial. I would really like to be home for the holidays. Please tell me that I can go home now. I have 4 sons that are active duty, and yes they are all american born citizens. I am extremely proud of their service. They have all been to Iraq or Afghanistan, multiple times. Veterans Day just passed and I'm still not home. I would be extremely happy to see and hug my sons, but I can't go back to the U.S., and my sons, being in the military, are not allowed to come to Mex. The government claims they are not separating anyone, what do they call this. Please keep me informed about Banished Veterans. I know very little about computers and I'm learning as I go along. Thank You.
hey carlos this is ray i am a honorably discharged vet that been deported to el salvaodr we are on facebook STOP THE DEPORTATION OF VETNAM VETS, BANISHED VETERANS come on over brother we will figure out how we can one day go home.
Got something to say?
Examiner.com is looking for writers, photographers, and videographers to join the fastest growing group of local insiders. If you are interested in growing your online rep apply to be an Examiner today!