By JESSE BEDAYN
The deportation of a U.S. Marine’s father in California is bringing new attention to President Donald Trump’s apparent changes to a longstanding policy seeking to protect military families from deportation.
Related Articles
How the government shutdown is thwarting efforts to shed light on Epstein’s case JD Vance dismisses bipartisan outrage over racist and offensive Young Republican group chat Brown University rejects Trump’s offer for priority funding, citing concerns over academic freedom Journalists turn in access badges, exit Pentagon rather than agree to new reporting rules Judge dismisses young climate activists’ lawsuit challenging Trump on fossil fuelsTrump’s new immigration tactics follow years of the military recruiting from immigrant communities to fill out its ranks and touting the immigration benefits for enlistees’ families.
Here’s what to know.
What was the policy?
Along with possible protection from deportation, enlisting in the military often meant deference in your family’s immigration cases and a better shot at a green card.
Those benefits were used by the armed forces to recruit more people, and, as of last year, an estimated 40,000 people were serving in the military without citizenship.
Under President Joe Biden, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement considered your and your immediate family’s military service as a “significant mitigating factor” when making immigration decisions, such as removal from the country.
The idea was to boost recruitment and maintain morale, fearing that it could take a hit if a service member’s family was deported.
What did the Trump administration change?
The administration issued a memo in February doing away with the older approach.
It said that immigration authorities “will no longer exempt” categories of people that had been afforded more grace in the past.
That included families of service members or veterans, said Margaret Stock, a military immigration law expert.
FILE – Margaret Stock, an immigration lawyer, poses with a copy of her book, “Immigration Law and the Military” at her office in Anchorage, Alaska, July 3, 2018. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)Do certain crimes void the protections?
They can, but Stock said there’s no explicit list of convictions that would make someone ineligible for protections and that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services can waive factoring in criminal convictions in making an immigration decision.
Have other military members’ families been detained?
Yes. A Marine Corps veteran’s wife, who was seeking a green card, was detained in May in Louisiana but a judge barred her removal.
And veterans without citizenship are increasingly worried about deportation.
Will this impact recruitment to the U.S. Armed Forces?
Stock says it will.
The military has struggled in the past to meet recruitment numbers.
That’s partly because there aren’t enough U.S. citizens without immigrant family members to meet the need, said Stock, a retired lieutenant colonel in the military police, U.S. Army Reserve, who taught law at West Point during the presidencies of George W. Bush and Barack Obama.
The immigration benefits for a recruit and their family were key to expanding the military’s ranks, said Stock, and recruitment would suffer without them.
The Marine Corps told The Associated Press last month that recruiters have been told that they “are not the proper authority” to “imply that Marine Corps can secure immigration relief for applicants or their families.”
Hence then, the article about what to know about deporting family members of us troops was published today ( ) and is available on The Orange County Register ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( What to know about deporting family members of US troops )
Also on site :
- Comedian Robby Roadsteamer Says He Was Detained by ICE in Portland
- Xerox set to reduce its workforce after acquiring the company Lexmark
- Man charged with manslaughter over 2020 death of 'talented' tattoo artist in Brierley Hill