Don’t turn the military into a mercenary force

The United States has a proud tradition of having our nation and its interests around the world defended by citizen soldiers. As a nation, we have rewarded those who serve with special benefits, most notably the GI Bill. We have also opened the ranks of our military to legal immigrants — many true American heroes — and have rewarded them with a fast track to citizenship.

But what we have never allowed is our military to be turned into a mercenary force in which foreign nationals serve for the express purpose of gaining financial or — in this case — immigration benefits. However, in an era in which the interests of illegal aliens seemingly take precedence over almost all else, there have been repeated attempts to allow them to gain amnesty by signing up for military service.

The ENLIST Act, championed by Rep. Jeff Denham, R-Calif., would open up our military to illegal aliens seeking to gain legal status and citizenship. Congress has wisely and repeatedly rejected efforts to drag our armed forces into the political quagmire of immigra- tion policy. In doing so, they have defended the principle that defending the nation should be a sacred responsibility of citizenship, not a backdoor to citizenship.

Principle aside, allowing illegal aliens to serve in the military poses security concerns. Although most illegal aliens pose no threat, their lack of reliable documents make it impossible to verify their identities and conduct thorough background checks, including criminal activity in the U.S. or their home countries, a concern that was raised last year in a Pentagon memo.

Moreover, as we have seen repeatedly, amnesty programs created to address the unique situation of illegal aliens who are already here create incentives for the next wave of illegal aliens who expect similar treatment.

Our military is working just fine. No need to fix what isn’t broke.

It’s our immigration policy that is broken. Congress should focus on fixing that instead.

Dan Stein is president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform.