Jacoby and the Path to Citizenship
- 02.13.2008 - 11:56 AMHe doesn’t get the attention that he deserves because he doesn’t work for one of the big Washington or New York publications, but Jeff Jacoby of the Boston Globe is one of America’s best conservative columnists. Therefore it is significant that in his column today he endorses an idea I’ve been pushing for a while: letting volunteers without Green Cards or American citizenship sign up to serve in our armed forces.
We already have procedures in place to expedite the citizenship process for permanent residents in uniform. But Jacoby argues that
the ability to earn American citizenship through military service needn’t be limited to legal immigrants. Among the millions of illegal immigrants living in the United States are an estimated 750,000 young men and women of military age, many of whom would welcome the opportunity to become US citizens in return for serving in the armed forces.
Expanding the recruitment pool to include them would make it easier for the military to build up its ranks without having to lower its standards. And what better way for illegal immigrants to come “out of the shadows” and assimilate fully into American life than by wearing their adopted country’s uniform in wartime?
Going further, he endorses an idea that Mike O’Hanlon and I have put forward of “opening military service not just to immigrants already here but to would-be immigrants elsewhere.”
This is an idea that raises predictable hackles from nativists, but as we’ve seen in this campaign season, the anti-immigrant lobby, while vocal and well-organized, hardly speaks for a majority of Republicans, much less a majority of Americans–or else John McCain, their bête noire, would never have won the Republican nomination.
Secretary of Defense Bob Gates has it within his power with the stroke of a pen to waive the Green Card requirement for enlistment. He should do it now. Otherwise the army in particular will have a hard time attracting all the high-quality volunteers that it needs, not only to fill today’s force but also the larger force we need to build for the future.
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February 13th, 2008 at 12:24 PM
This is how our family got over here. Great Uncle Charles, a bona fide communist, arrived here in the 1890s. Within a few years, his eyes opened and he joined the U.S. Army. He stayed in for 25 years, fought everywhere from the Philippines to Mexico and WWI, then retired. By that time he had earned US citizenship, learned the language, the country, and even more important, great love for this country. He had saved enough money to bring his parents and sibs over from Poland just before Congress closed the door in 1924.
It was said that whatever the public occasion, he would always say prayer thanking G-d for the U.S. Army.
February 13th, 2008 at 1:02 PM
This is an excellent idea. We should seriously consider doing this as quickly as possible.
February 13th, 2008 at 1:58 PM
Max: the nativists may well object, but please stop implying those concerned with illegal immigration are necessarily nativists. I’m all for legal immigration and I support in principle the idea Jeff Jacoby is pushing (although I wonder about background checks and educational levels, but I suppose these are manageable issues), even if I have a problem with McCain’s stand on amnesty. And I support McCain without reservations, even if he wasn’t my first choice and despite my various policy differences with him.
February 13th, 2008 at 2:07 PM
Fill the legions up with Goths.
Great idea.
February 13th, 2008 at 2:40 PM
Jon S., he will attack us as nativists and rub Maverick in our faces because he’s running interference for the open-borders crowd. If he weren’t, he’d be sensible enough to claim simply that a US “foreign legion” both obviates a military draft and is an acceptable mechanism for assimilation, and then get off the soapbox. Obiter dicta duly noted, Max, but stay away from juries.
February 13th, 2008 at 2:54 PM
Mr. Boot,
Gaining citizenship through military service is already possible, as is joining the service only with a green card. Your suggestion here (not even a green card required) is fairly draconian. But I have a better idea. Let’s increase the pay of members of the armed forces. I propose an across the board 30% increase, but if not across the board, at least in the enlisted ranks.
It’s (service) sure to be more attractive, but it would mean that the U.S. population would have to be serious about self defense. I’m not sure that this assumption is true, so I doubt that it will happen. Hence, we’re back to trying to rig the process.
February 13th, 2008 at 5:10 PM
Agreed, Max, it’s a terrific idea. I know many Iraqis who would love to be Marines even if it would not get them citizenship. Why not let illegal Mexican immigrants join if they are qualified and otherwise law-abiding? Those who don’t make the cut could be sent back to Mexico.
February 13th, 2008 at 5:28 PM
I think that green card holders should be granted citizenship the moment they are inducted into the Armed Forces. Illegal aliens, on the other hand, may find this incentive to be too powerful to resist and we might be looking at a huge influx triggered by such a policy change. Given that the illegal alien population tends to be undereducated and cannot boast of high English proficiency, the net gain to this country seems to be negligible compared to the downside.
February 15th, 2008 at 12:56 AM
So is this another type of “work Americans won’t do”?
February 15th, 2008 at 10:10 AM
Max, you need to read up on the barbarisation of the late Roman Army. Barbarian recruits had no real loyalty to Rome and were happy to betray her interests whenever expedient. Further, the spread of barbarian customs and culture military led to a decline in traditional discipline, and internal army disunity due to friction between Romans and barbarians. Ultimately, the army degenerated into just a collection of foreign mercenary bands that were incapable of defending the empire effectively.
The United States has never had reason to doubt the loyalty of its military forces, and thus some people seem to think that the loyalty of the legions can never be doubted. I can think of no better way to introduce such doubt than to bring in a large influx of foreigners. A nation that cannot or will not raise an army of its own citizens is doomed, and deserves its doom.