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US Military welcomes non-citizen soldiers
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June 28, 2009, 9:00pm, EDT
In Tegucigalpa, Honduras this month, America welcomed two foreign-born soldiers as citizens. 
On June 8, the US Embassy hosted the first ever US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) naturalization ceremony ever held in Latin America.
“I can think of no greater privilege than to be the first to welcome as the newest citizens of the United States, two American soldiers, who currently serve our nation in Honduras and who have each already completed two tours in Iraq,” said Michael Aytes, USCIS’ Acting Deputy Director.
Army Staff Sgt. Damien Milne, a native of the Marshall Islands, submitted his application for U.S. citizenship less than a month ago. He received a perfect score on the USCIS naturalization test. He now calls Killeen, Texas (Ft. Hood) his home.
Army Sgt. Carmen Villa, born in Mexico, also had a perfect score on her USCIS test. She resides in Columbia, SC, a member of a US Army aviation regiment.
Honduras is one of 15 countries since 2004 where US Citizenship and Immigration Services have conducted naturalization ceremonies outside the United States. Before Oct. 1, 2004, military service members could only naturalize in the United States.
One week after the soldiers in Honduras became US citizens the American flag-draped casket of Sgt. Jasper Obakrairur arrived in his hometown of Koror on the island of Palau, 4500 miles southwest of Hawaii. Sgt. Obakrairur was killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan before he was able to realize his dreams of becoming a US citizen.
Since September 2001, US Citizenship and Immigration Services officials have naturalized more than 49,000 members of the U.S. armed forces.
Only legal immigrants are accepted into the US Military.
For more information (and requirements) about USCIS’ special services for the military and their families, please visit http://www.uscis.gov/military. USCIS has established a toll-free military help line, 1-877-CIS-4MIL (1-877-247-4645)
Examiner’s Note: As with their brothers and sisters in arms from Latin America, many Pacific Islanders have joined the US armed forces as a way to improve their education, lift themselves out of poverty and have the potential of becoming American citizens. Guam, the Northern Marianas, Micronesia and Palau have lost 32 men and women to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2003. Currently, the republic of Palau alone has 200 fighting men and women in uniform.
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