This week. U.S. Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar, R-Fla., threw her support behind a proposal that would “allow noncitizen service members to apply for naturalization during basic training, establish a review process for those who are in removal proceedings, and provide an opportunity for noncitizen veterans who have been removed or ordered removed and who have not been convicted of serious crimes to obtain legal permanent resident status.”
Salazar is co-sponsoring U.S. Rep. Mark Takano’s, D-Calif., “Veteran Service Recognition Act.”
“All members of our Armed Forces deserve to be treated with dignity and respect,” said Salazar. “Noncitizen veterans, just like their American peers, make the ultimate sacrifice in service of the United States. I’m proud to introduce this legislation with Congressman Takano, which would streamline the naturalization process for noncitizen veterans and would provide due process for noncitizen veterans who were wrongfully deported.”
The bill cleared the 117th Congress, when Democrats controlled the House, but did not advance in the U.S. Senate.
“I have been fighting to prevent noncitizen veterans from falling through the cracks of our broken immigration system for years because it is shameful that they are being exiled from the same country they risked their lives to protect and defend,” said Takano, who leads Democrats on the U.S. House Committee Veterans Affairs Committee. “I am proud to reintroduce the Veteran Service Recognition Act, a critical step to ensuring that our men and women in uniform are honored for their bravery, heroism, and service, no matter where they were born.”
A host of groups, including the American Legion, UnidosUs, VoteVets, Union Veterans Council, Black Deported Veterans of America, the ACLU, LULAC, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Department of California, Project On Government Oversight and the AFL-CIO are backing the proposal.
The bill was sent to the U.S. House Judiciary, Veterans Affairs and the Armed Services Committees.
U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., is championing the bill in the U.S. Senate.
