Nearly two dozen Republicans have proposed legislation that would ban all illegal immigrants from serving in the U.S. military.
The sponsor of the bill, Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., said it’s critical for Congress to only reserve military service for Americans at a time when the size of the armed forces is dropping each year.
“At a time when we are in the midst of eliminating 160,000 uniformed personnel positions over a nine-year stretch, we cannot afford to let the Pentagon reduce more opportunities for American soldiers through an unconstitutional executive memorandum,” Gosar said. “The president and his open border allies may hate the fact that the Constitution gets in the way of their political agenda, but it’s up to Congress to take bold action and stop this lawlessness.”
Gosar said President Obama in 2014 took an executive action to make illegal immigrants eligible for military service. The so-called Military Accessions Vital to the National Interest program, or MAVNI, included immigrants allowed to stay under Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA.
Gosar’s office said 141 DACA immigrants were enlisted in the government through last April. But he said the military is opposed to this change, and said a former military official who helped create the MAVNI program has been quoted in a press report saying that the program was not meant for DACA immigrants.
“Article I, Section 8, Clause 4 of the Constitution grants Congress clear jurisdiction with regard to U.S. citizenship and immigration matters,” Gosar said. “Congress has consistently rejected policies that aim to allow illegal aliens to serve in the military.”
Gosar’s legislation has 19 Republican cosponsors. Read the bill here:
