Margaret Stock

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June 30, 2011 | 5:42 PM | By

‘Army unit’ scheme a reminder of the military’s pull for non-citizens

A military naturalization ceremony, July 2010. Photo by NOWCastSA/Flickr (Creative Commons)

In case any sort of reminder was needed of how desperate many immigrants are for U.S. citizenship, one came yesterday in the sentencing of Yupeng “David” Deng, a Chinese immigrant from El Monte accused of charging fellow immigrants upwards of $400 to join a bogus “special forces” military unit that he told them would provide a path to citizenship.

Deng, who led the fake unit as its “supreme commander,” was sentenced to three years in state prison in connection with the scheme after pleading guilty to various charges. He has been ordered to pay restitution to his victims, Chinese immigrants who believed his citizenship promise.

It wasn’t the only reminder of the draw of the military as a path to citizenship this week.

On Tuesday, during a packed Senate hearing on the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM Act), retired Lt. Colonel Margaret Stock of the Military Police Corps and U.S. Army Reserve testified on how the proposed legislation is a valuable recruiting tool. The Dream Act would grant conditional legal status not only to undocumented college students brought to the U.S. before age 16, but to young people who enlist.

Among other things, Stock testified on how undocumented immigrants can’t currently enlist, and talked about suggestions that the Department of Defense create a “military only” Dream Act, which she cautioned against. From her testimony:

Under the DREAM Act, all DREAM Act beneficiaries who attempt to enlist will have Conditional Lawful Permanent Residence, a status that is already recognized in existing enlistment statutes and military regulations. While some have suggested that the Department of Defense create a “military only” DREAM Act, such a program would present a greater security risk to DOD, would flood military recruiters with unqualified applicants for enlistment, and would require significant changes in military enlistment regulations and recruiting resources.

A “military only” DREAM Act would also contradict the fundamental premise of the All Volunteer Force, as many DREAM Act beneficiaries would be motivated to join the military out of a desperate desire to legalize their status, and not because they are truly interested in military service.

Even with the Dream Act as it stands, there has been opposition to the military aspect of the bill from some otherwise supportive voices because of the desperation factor, with anti-minority recruiting advocates worrying that some youths will feel coerced to enlist for fear of deportation.

But citizenship is a strong pull, as evidenced by those duped by Deng’s fake army unit scheme, reportedly 200 immigrants altogether. And the laws have changed in a way that would make such a thing almost plausible. A 2002 presidential order allowed non-citizens serving in the military to apply for expedited citizenship, swelling the ranks of what are referred to as non-citizen “green card soldiers.”

A record number of U.S. military personnel – 11,146 soldiers – were naturalized as citizens last year, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

FILED UNDER: Health/Education, Bogus army unit, Dream Act, Margaret Stock, Yupend "David" Deng
January 27, 2011 | 10:35 AM | By

A guide to birthright citizenship and the 14th Amendment

Photo by Cliff 1066/Flickr (Creative Commons)

A child participates in a parade of flags, October 2010

The discussion over whether the United States should grant automatic citizenship to everyone who is born here isn’t necessarily a new one, but in recent months, it’s moved beyond talk.

In the past month, a couple of different legislative approaches have emerged to ending what is now a constitutional right under the 14th Amendment, affirmed by a landmark 1898 Supreme Court case that came out of California. One is a federal House bill that proposes a change to immigration law, introduced in early January by Republican Rep. Steve King of Iowa; another, less orthodox approach involves a coalition of conservative state legislators who plan to introduce bills at the state level that they hope will land in court, forcing a new Supreme Court review and, they hope, a reinterpretation that would deny citizenship to children of undocumented immigrants.

Today, Arizona lawmakers in both state legislative houses will be introducing their version of a model bill, unveiled earlier this month by a group of anti-birthright citizenship state lawmakers in Washington, D.C., which proposes distinguishing between the babies born to undocumented immigrants and other infants in state-issued birth certificates. Indiana, which doesn’t get as much coverage on the immigration front as Arizona, has already beat them to it, with state Rep. Eric Koch introducing a version of the model bill last week.

So just what is the 14th Amendment, and what does it guarantee to those born in this country? Here is the text of Section 1, which lies at the heart of the challenge:

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

The 14th Amendment was one of three changes to the Constitution during and after the Civil War era known as the Reconstruction Amendments. The 13th abolished slavery, the 15th prohibited the states from denying the vote to anyone based solely on race. The 14th was ratified in 1868. Among other things, it reversed a decision made by the Supreme Court more than a decade earlier in Dred Scott v. Sandford, which had held that people of African descent, at the time still enslaved, could not be U.S. citizens.

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FILED UNDER: Politics/Justice, 14th Amendment, Birthright citizenship, Margaret Stock, Wong Kim Ark