Q&A on the News

Q: With the recent debate over the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, I have read that there are members of the U.S. military that are not citizens. Isn’t proof of citizenship a requirement to join any branch of our military? — Frank Manfre, Grayson

A: Noncitizens who are legal permanent residents have been eligible to enlist in U.S. military service since the country’s founding, according to military.com, a military and veterans membership organization.

However, military.com says there are some restrictions. Noncitizen enlistees cannot obtain security clearance and are not allowed to re-enlist until they become U.S. citizens. Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is authorized to expedite the naturalization process for enlisted noncitizens and veterans.

Noncitizen enlistees still must demonstrate good moral character, knowledge of the English language, U.S. government and history, and take an oath of allegiance to the United States.

Since 2013, the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines have provided noncitizens the opportunity to naturalize when they complete basic training, USCIS states. Citizenship acquired through military service may be revoked if they leave the military under “other than honorable conditions” before completing five years of honorable service.

About 35,000 noncitizens are currently serving active duty and about 8,000 join the military each year, military.com reports.

DACA enrollees are not considered legal permanent residents, so with the exception of a few hundred who qualified in the Department of Defense’s special Military Accessions Vital to National Interest recruitment pilot program, they are not eligible to enlist in military service.

Fast Copy News Service wrote this column. Do you have a question? We’ll try to get the answer. Call 404-222-2002 or email q&a@ajc.com (include name, phone and city).