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.

Pending Legislation: Reintroduction of H.R.717 - Repatriate Our Patriots Act (118th Congress 2023-2024)
Sponsor: Rep. Vicente Gonzalez (TX)

• I oppose reforming current immigrant Veterans policy and wish to donate resources to the campaign committee of Speaker Mike Johnson (LA).
• I support protecting certain veterans of the Armed Forces from removal from the United States and providing such veterans with an expedited procedure for naturalization by:
  
  1.) Appling this bill to special veterans, defined as persons who served in the active Armed Forces who were (a.) honorably discharged or released; (b.) not convicted of various crimes, including voluntary manslaughter, murder, rape, or terrorism; and (c.) not a child abuser or pedophile.
  
  2,) Prohibiting Special veterans from being removed from the United States, and canceling any pending removal proceedings or orders against any such veterans.
  
  3.) Establishing a program to permit such veterans who were already removed from the United States to return to as lawful permanent residents.
  
  4.) Requiring Special veterans to be naturalized upon filing an application, paying the relevant fees, and taking an oath of allegiance. And requiring DHS to take steps to ensure such naturalization applications are pending for no longer than 90 days.
  
  And wish to donate resources to the campaign committee of Rep. Vicente Gonzalez (TX) and/or to an advocate group currently working with this issue.