Army enlistee joins many whose lives are in limbo
H.J. Zhu was pursuing a doctorate in petroleum engineering at the University of Wyoming, hoping to graduate and eventually obtain a green card, when he learned about a U.S. military program that would put him on a fast track to American citizenship.
Military Accessions Vital to the National Interest seemed like the perfect fit for the student from China.
MAVNI recruits legal immigrants with highlevel skills, such as a background in medicine or language expertise, and promises them U.S. citizenship, typically at the end of basic combat training. The program, which was started in 2009 to address critical shortages of medical and strategic language personnel in the U.S. armed services by allowing certain qualified noncitizens to enlist in the U.S. military, has offered a path to citizenship to students and refugees and, since 2014, to some people covered by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
In addition to English, Zhu speaks Mandarin and Arabic. Joining the Army seemed like a way to avoid the lengthy process of securing a working visa and then green card. So in January 2016, Zhu quit his Ph.D. program and signed a contract, committing six years to the U.S. Army Reserve.
The dream job that had promised Zhu an efficient path to citizenship quickly became a nightmare. There have been multiple delays since he signed his contract and he still hasn’t been sent to basic training. Zhu cannot return to China because he swore allegiance to the United States of America.
He is, effectively, a man without a country. “My life is put on hold,” Zhu said. “It’s very challenging. I want to stay here and be a U.S. soldier, but my road is blocked. But going back to China is not an option. Now if I go back I may
be persecuted.”
Zhu is one of about 4,000 recruits trapped in limbo since the MAVNI program stalled last September, when the Department of Defense mandated heightened security screenings for those seeking citizenship through the program. Thousands of individuals who signed up for the military have found themselves stuck waiting for the government to determine their fates. Some have lost their legal immigration status in the process and could be deported. Some are DACA recruits, already at risk due to President Donald Trump’s decision this week to end the program.
“It’s a terrible situation caused by bureaucratic bungling at the Pentagon,” said Margaret Stock, a retired lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve’s Military Police who pioneered the MAVNI program. “The recruits trusted the U.S. government, … and now they’re finding out that the Department of Defense is breaking down and they might have ruined their lives.”
More than 10,000 individuals have joined or signed contracts to join the military through the MAVNI program since 2009. To qualify, they had to be in the U.S. legally for at least two years and passed background and aptitude tests. But in 2016, new eligibility requirements added highlevel counterintelligence screening typically only required of high-level U.S. officials, Stock said.
Now, MAVNI is under review due to potential security risks and is not accepting new applications, Defense Department spokesman Paul Haverstick said in an email.
“We know this involves real people who are in limbo while they await resolution,” Haverstick said. He said the Department of Defense is coordinating with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services regarding the status of those whose immigration status has lapsed in the meantime.
Jullian Anderson, a MAVNI recruit from Brazil who gave up his student visa after he joined the military, is still waiting for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to grant him a decision that will defer his deportation.
Anderson was an undergraduate at the University of Utah when he learned about the MAVNI program at a career fair. He signed his contract in February 2016 and was told he’d be shipped to basic training by that September. After completing his spring semester, he canceled his student status through an authorized early withdrawal. But then his ship date was delayed until February. Then it was delayed indefinitely, leaving him without the legal means to work or study in the U.S.
“It’s a lot of smoke and mirrors and not a lot of explanation,” said Anderson, who is relying on the support of friends to continue living in Salt Lake City while waiting for the military to provide answers. “I never expected that a job offer given to me at my university would lead me down a path where I would have to give up my status and not have my citizenship yet.”
His immigration attorney Beverly Cutler said many MAVNI recruits are in his position.
“The longer you wait to ship them, the higher percentage is going to have their status expire,” Cutler said. “What we owe them is not leaving them worse off than they were, because that’s just so unfair. And also some recognition of the time they’ve invested, a couple of years, waiting to go to basic combat training (while) they couldn’t just go get another job because they were contracted with the Army.”
For months, the military was not conducting the counterintelligence background checks, and it even temporarily canceled the program, Stock said, and multiple MAVNI recruits have filed lawsuits against the government. The military has since scheduled the screenings, but Stock said she fears many who would otherwise be eligible for service will not pass.
“Most of the people in the military couldn’t pass this screening,” Stock said. “We have to wait and see what happens, if people even get through.”
Zhu, meanwhile, has his counterintelligence screening scheduled for this month. For now, he’s worried about what his future holds. He has completed the classes for a master’s degree in statistics, and after the fall semester, he’ll have to graduate and once again face having his student visa expire. He said he’s considering applying for asylum.
“I swore allegiance to protect this country, and now the government wants to get rid of me,” Zhu said. “It’s really putting my life in limbo.”