Democracy Rules

Undocumented American immigrants are drawn to the armed forces for the same reasons native-born Americans are. These include a steady job, the military lifestyle and patriotism. Many undocumented immigrants who join the U.S. military erroneously assume that citizenship goes along with enlisting. Policy changes by the Department of Homeland Security have made it much easier and faster for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE) to deport undocumented people, including military Veterans. Our government has already deported 12,000 military veterans. ICE agents are supposed to take into account military service before making a decision to deport a veteran. ICE is also supposed inform the vet that he has the right to apply for citizenship even while being processed for deportation.

Under a 1990s law, a legal resident, including U.S. military Veterans, can have their legal residency revoked and be deported if convicted of a crime, including crimes that occurred years earlier and for which the offender has served his sentence. Veterans facing deportation are still entitled to various educational and medical benefits but advocates say most don’t get the chance to use them because immigration officials are very aggressive in their efforts to deport undocumented people, regardless of whether they are veterans or not.

Proposed Legislation: Reintroduction of H.R.8704 - Protecting Immigrant Gold Star and Military Families Act (117th Congress 2019-2020)
Prospective Sponsor: Rep. Ruben Gallego (AZ)

I oppose reforming current immigrant Veterans policy and wish to donate resources to the campaign committee of Speaker Kevin McCarthy (CA).
I support limiting the deportability of certain relatives of current and former members of the Armed Forces by: 1.) Prohibiting the deportation of a qualifying alien who is the spouse, widow or widower, parent, child, or sibling of a member of the Armed Forces or a Veteran, or is eligible for a Gold Star lapel button given to immediate relatives of a member of the Armed Forces who died while serving. 2.) Defining a qualifying alien as one who has not have been convicted of a felony, significant misdemeanor or three misdemeanors, and is not a threat to national security or public safety. And wish to donate resources to the campaign committee of Rep. Ruben Gallego (AZ) and/or to an advocate group currently working with this issue.

Winning Option »» I support limiting the deportability of certain relatives of current and former members of the Armed Forces by: 1.) Prohibiting the deportation of a qualifying alien who is the spouse, widow or widower, parent, child, or sibling of a member of the Armed Forces or a Veteran, or is eligible for a Gold Star lapel button given to immediate relatives of a member of the Armed Forces who died while serving. 2.) Defining a qualifying alien as one who has not have been convicted of a felony, significant misdemeanor or three misdemeanors, and is not a threat to national security or public safety. And wish to donate resources to the campaign committee of Rep. Ruben Gallego (AZ) and/or to an advocate group currently working with this issue.