By: Daniel Nardini
Interestingly enough, human rights advocates and pro-immigration supporters are not the only ones concerned about what is being called “birthright citizenship” being erased from the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. A growing number of military legal experts are also concerned that laws passed by states and even the U.S. Congress stripping away automatic citizenship to children of the undocumented will have a devastating impact on the national defense of the United States.
The concerns are not far-fetched. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, 12 percent of the entire U.S. military is Latino. It is estimated that as much as eight to ten percent of all individuals who join the U.S. military are the children of the undocumented. If this is the case, then to strip them of U.S. citizenship because of their undocumented parents would be detrimental to the U.S. military. By law, an undocumented person is not allowed to join the U.S. military, and no undocumented can gain U.S. citizenship at this point by joining the U.S. military. If the U.S. Congress should enact laws that automatically strip children of the undocumented of U.S. citizenship then the U.S. military could lose as much as eight to ten percent of its recruits.
For the U.S. military, a loss of this many people would be disastrous. We are talking about hundreds of thousands of people. With the U.S. military being engaged on so many fronts around the world, and also needing personnel here desperately for natural disasters, the U.S. military would be trying to do what it can with nowhere near enough people. So far all legislation for eliminating “birthright citizenship” has failed in the U.S. Congress and in all state legislatures. Even in Arizona such legislation failed to pass. This speaks volumes of how many people feel that certain extremists in our state and federal political circles are going too far. Nevertheless, the battle to keep the 14th Amendment intact continues, and there will be attempts by extremists who will try to rewrite the U.S. Constitution for their own narrow-minded ends. That narrow-mindedness might not only damage the political and social fabric of this country but also do irreparable harm to the people who are willing to defend the Republic.
Killing National Defense
By: Daniel Nardini
Interestingly enough, human rights advocates and pro-immigration supporters are not the only ones concerned about what is being called “birthright citizenship” being erased from the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. A growing number of military legal experts are also concerned that laws passed by states and even the U.S. Congress stripping away automatic citizenship to children of the undocumented will have a devastating impact on the national defense of the United States.
The concerns are not far-fetched. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, 12 percent of the entire U.S. military is Latino. It is estimated that as much as eight to ten percent of all individuals who join the U.S. military are the children of the undocumented. If this is the case, then to strip them of U.S. citizenship because of their undocumented parents would be detrimental to the U.S. military. By law, an undocumented person is not allowed to join the U.S. military, and no undocumented can gain U.S. citizenship at this point by joining the U.S. military. If the U.S. Congress should enact laws that automatically strip children of the undocumented of U.S. citizenship then the U.S. military could lose as much as eight to ten percent of its recruits.
For the U.S. military, a loss of this many people would be disastrous. We are talking about hundreds of thousands of people. With the U.S. military being engaged on so many fronts around the world, and also needing personnel here desperately for natural disasters, the U.S. military would be trying to do what it can with nowhere near enough people. So far all legislation for eliminating “birthright citizenship” has failed in the U.S. Congress and in all state legislatures. Even in Arizona such legislation failed to pass. This speaks volumes of how many people feel that certain extremists in our state and federal political circles are going too far. Nevertheless, the battle to keep the 14th Amendment intact continues, and there will be attempts by extremists who will try to rewrite the U.S. Constitution for their own narrow-minded ends. That narrow-mindedness might not only damage the political and social fabric of this country but also do irreparable harm to the people who are willing to defend the Republic.