What if we offered the chance for citizenship to any illegal alien who could pass the physical and speak and read English; and pass a basic citizenship test, if they served in the armed forces for three years? The services desperately need bodies to go to Iraq. If they want the benefits of this country they could prove their hopefully continued loyalty by fighting for it. I know someone smarter than me will knock this down so I’m anxious to see the reasons.
I believe there is a program by which non-US citizens can join the military and earn citizenship. I don’t know that it applies to illegal aliens, though.
Isn’t that how the Roman Empire fell?
[QUOTE=suezeekay]
What if we offered the chance for citizenship to any illegal alien who could pass the physical and speak and read English; and pass a basic citizenship test, if they served in the armed forces for three years? The services desperately need bodies to go to Iraq. If they want the benefits of this country they could prove their hopefully continued loyalty by fighting for it. QUOTE]
Fighting for the US? Shit, they didn’t mention that in the memorandum. I thought it was the War Against Terror/Weapons of Mass Destruction. When did this become a fight for the US of A?
And I really don’t think that they need any more bodies in Iraq. From my reading they have plenty…many still yet to be identified by their families.
In other words, I think your suggestion sucks suezeekay.
Actually, the Roman Empire’s practice of extending citizenship to conquered people is part of what allowed it to attain its greatness. You had an ever expanding population that was willing to fight for Rome, once they saw the benefits of being a Roman…
Don’t the French Foreign Legion have a similar sort of thing? Anyone can join (under an assumed name, if you like!) and after 5 years, you can claim French Citizenship and a Pension.
If you survive that long, that is… :eek:
The straightforward reasons are that
- The majority of illegal immigrants are relatively uneducated Mexicans with limited English skills. Not that there’s anything wrong with being a Spanish-speaking Mexican without relevant skills, but it’s of no value to the armed services. Now, granted, you did say pass an English test, but now you’re limiteing your recruiting to the immigrants who would be most useful to the civilian economy and serve an important function in their ethnic communities. The Pentagon simply isn’t going to be interested in being a dumping ground for people who couldn’t immigrate legally.
Now, I speak as a guy who thinks immigration is the lifeblood of a modern Western economy, but as it stands the free market is directing immigrants, both legal and illegal, to the jobs that need filling.
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It would have virtually no significant impact on the immigration problem - the Pentagon simply couldn’t take that many recruits.
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If it were implemented and the military actually wanted to do it (which I doubt) it would tend to make the armed services dependent upon a foreign flow of recruits. The impetus to keep up pay and benefits, something the government is already a bit lax on, would be lost; after all, immigrants would, as they do in so many other jobs, li0kely be soldiers for less money than native-born Americans would. As pay declined relative to the national average, it would become a decreasingly attractive career option for native-born Americans. I see a lot of negatives about a free nation’s armed services being staffed by foreign mercenaries, rather than being reflective of its own population.
I forgot another, perhaps more important factor.
Relying on foreign soldiers simply allows the government to ignore the real problem. The question you have to ask yourself is “Why, in a country of three hundred million people, are we having problems recruiting?” If you can’t get Americans to join the army and fight, you may want to examine why that is rather than selling citizenship to foreigners to get them to fight.
I agree. An all-volunteer, citizen army is one of the best checks on war mongering that I can think of. Obviously the Congress is up to that task. We had a surge in enlistments after 9/11/01 when we have a real need in this country to battle a real enemy. The decline in enlistments in the past few years is simply a refelction of the mood of the country as a whole-- ie, that we’re no longer fighting a real enemy.