Illegal Immigrants: Join the Army?
By Josh Barsch
I am not an avid follower of politics; most politicians are professional liars and panderers, and I don’t like devoting much time listening to people who, at best, are telling me what they think I want to hear, and at worst, are lying right to my face. Still, I do occasionally get what seems to be a good idea, something perhaps worth writing down, even. Personally, I would fall on a sword before I ever ran for office, so on the off chance that I do incubate a workable and helpful idea, I guess I should blog it so some future politician can use it and swiftly take credit for thinking of it first.
If you pay any attention whatsoever to the outside world, you’re probably well aware that:
a) the U.S. gets a great deal of new, illegal residents from Mexico (and other countries, to be fair, but primarily Mexico) every year. Roughly, from what I read, it’s about a million people per year. A lot of attention is being paid to the issue right now, since it’s an election year. And,
b) We’ve got a shortage of men and women in the U.S. Armed Forces. We’ve raised the age ceiling on new recruits, we’re offering big signing bonuses…anything to beef up the number of troops. We’re spread pretty thin, it seems.
So, we have the Armed Forces desperate for more Americans to sign up. We have a million Mexicans coming here every year, desperate to be Americans (more or less). Why can’t we kill two birds with one stone?
Here’s what I’d propose: Immigrants with clean criminal records (at least clear of major stuff — previous attempts at crossing the border wouldn’t bother me) who would commit to an 8-year term in the U.S. military would enjoy temporary citizenship during those eight years, as would their immediate families. When the eight-year term is up, the entire family would become permanent U.S. citizens. Would it work?
Well, first of all, would they (the immigrants) take us up on it? I wholeheartedly believe so. Most of the Mexicans who come here are ready to work really, really hard, for really, really poor wages, doing really, really ugly work. So, are we to believe they’d turn up their noses at the current U.S. military wages and benefits (free quarters or a quarters allowance, free health care, G.I. Bill, lifetime pension after 20 years of service, etc.), and first-class job training? Sure, we’re at war, so not everyone will want to go for it — but plenty of Americans are still signing up, and they’ve got a lot more alternatives as American citizens than do the impoverished Mexicans who make the trip here by the thousands each day.
What about the language barrier? A problem initially, yes, but some of the best linguists in the world work for the U.S. Military. Immigrants would pick up English in the Armed Forces better than anywhere else, and so would their families. And when their eight years of service is up, the U.S. job market gets a fresh infusion of skilled workers. Some would return to Mexico, sure…but how many? I may be naive, but I think that the enormous difference in opportunity and social services offered between the U.S. and Mexico would lead many to stay in the U.S. permanently.
Remember — the million-plus immigrants annually are coming here anyway, whether we offer them a path to the military or shuttle them into strawberry fields and Christmas tree farms and dishwashing jobs, pretending they’re not really there. Why not give them a hand up while giving a boost to the military and the economy?
Would it work? Am I crazy? All comments welcome.
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Josh Barsch founded StraightForward Media in 2001 after a brief career in print journalism. He now lives in the sticks of western South Dakota with his wife Christina, daughter Mia, son Ezra, two dogs Velvet & Holly, and cat Chanceux, all of whom he loves dearly. And four nameless hermit crabs, for whom he feels nothing.
14 Responses to “Illegal Immigrants: Join the Army?”
1 Xina 29 March 2008 @ 12:29 pm
I am shocked no one has thought of this yet. I hope someone does steal your idea. Good thinking!
2 Brad 4 April 2008 @ 1:35 pm
A damn good idea on the surface but I see a few flaws.
Currently there are about 1.5 million people on active duty and another 1.5 million reserves, with one million immigrants entering annually the people accepted in this 8 year program would be a drop in the immigration bucket.
This program is so good the numbers of immigrants asking for entry (from all over the world, not just Mexico) would at least increase by the number of people enlisting into the military leaving us with the same basic problem. Essentially we would be offering immigrants a quarter million dollars, move their family to the US, job training, and US citizenship. A very good opportunity that most people in the world would love to have.
This doesn’t even get into the question of if we want 1,000,000 armed and trained Mexican nationals in charge of securing the US. Or the fact that there is obviously a demand for low income workers. This has to be supplied from somewhere. If not the price for labor would cause massive inflation and wreck the dollar more than it is already.
This idea would be a fantastic way to get a percentage of our military if recruiting numbers weren’t up to snuff. We could also get very high quality individuals because demand would be so great.
In my opinion this would work as a solution to military personnel shortages, but it wouldn’t help our immigration problems.
3 SFM-Josh 4 April 2008 @ 3:34 pm
True, it would definitely not solve the illegal immigration problem once and for all, but it may be a step in the right direction — even if you siphoned off 50-75k illegal immigrants this way, it might be a good thing.
I wouldn’t offer the plan to anyone but Mexican nationals. Sure, that would cause an outcry and those from other (especially Central American) countries would bitch, but we don’t have the massive immigration problem with any other country like we do with Mexico. I’m definitely sensitive to the argument of letting foreign nationals be part of defending the country — and there’s no way in hell I’d be in favor of throwing open the doors to people from terrorist-incubator countries — but we do have something like 30,000 noncitizen foreigners in the Armed Forces already. Even under a program like the one I pulled out of my butt for this blog post, they’d still constitute a significant minority of our Armed Forces, and I don’t think there’d be too much concern over them, as a group, doing their job any less heartily than the American-born troops. Also, I’d set the terms of the program such that the prerequisites for getting their citizenship for them and their families were very strict in terms of their Armed Forces performance. Sparkly-clean records of performance across the board would be critical for citizenship, thereby (I’d hope) lessening the chance for mischief. It’s easier to cross that line when it’s just your future you’re toying with, but when it’s your entire family’s future, your kids’ future — that’s a pretty good disincentive, I think.
Also, I think the “small percentage” argument cancels out the argument that the program would suck away too much low-skilled labor. There’s a demand for that low-skilled lbaor, no doubt, but I’d argue that the current immigration flood is providing an oversupply. Pull into a Home Depot parking lot anywhere south of Nebraska (especially the large, Hispanic-heavy cities), and there’s a throng of Mexican dudes willing to work for pocket change and a slice of pizza, just about — and no one’s taking them up on it. I’m thinking that maybe a program like the Armed Forces deal would suck up a lot of the oversupply, but not too much of the supply. Or, to be more specific — would suck up new soldiers from the ranks of those currently holding jobs, allowing the day-laborer types to slide into those jobs.
I agree completely on the selectiveness of the program leading to some high-quality folks into the service, even if you limited it to Mexico only. I can’t imagine that, from day one, you wouldn’t have four or five folks in line at recruiting stations for every available slot.
Food for thought here — this article is three years old, but it does provide some perspective about U.S. foreign-born soldiers, the eagerness of some green-card holders to conscript, etc.
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/112806dnteximmigmilitary.331e2bd.html
4 Brad 4 April 2008 @ 4:33 pm
The numbers just don’t add up to me. Giving several thousand high quality Mexican nationals jobs in the military that can’t be filled my Americans (thanks, Berkeley) is a great idea. I just don’t think it will have any impact on immigration. It could foster feelings of American patriotism in Hispanic communities helping with the integration of immigrant communities, which would be a very good thing.
Basic economics tells me that all of those people hanging out at the Home Depot for a job are doing it because the demand for their labor is high enough to justify it. If it wasn’t they would go back elsewhere.
I think our entire way of looking at immigration is skewed. We look at the immigrants as the problem, but they are just filling a need. Lets use some old salesman techniques and try to smoke out the real problems.
the common complaints are:
1. They take jobs from Americans
2. They are a drain on our social services
3. National security
4. Increased crime rate
I’m not buying number 1 or 4. Minimum wage and labor laws may take these jobs away from Americans, but if we really needed these jobs to feed our families we would be waiting in line at the Home Depot and working outside these laws right with them. I know illegal aliens have committed crimes but you would have a tough time selling me on an immigrant-crime link. There may be an economic link, but being an immigrant does not make you more likely to be a criminal.
Securing our borders needs to happen for security purposes. We need to know who is in our country, but we also need to let the labor force in. No easy answer on this one. Maybe working with Canada and Mexico to make a secure zone.
The real problem lies with the economic drain on our social services, so in my mind the problem doesn’t lie with the immigrant but with our social services. Replacing the income, payroll, medicare, and social security taxes with a consumption tax is a good first step. A drastic reduction in spending on all social programs would be a good second step. We are obviously going the opposite direction as a country so this problem will only compound.
5 Jessica 4 April 2008 @ 6:01 pm
Ummm…. I’m not so sure. We put them in a big club, formally train them in urban warfare and give them guns?
Sounds more like a recruitment program for gangs.
6 Brad 7 April 2008 @ 12:46 pm
The people waiting at the home depot seem to have this living in the USA thing figured out… they are forming a Union.
7 Sarah 16 April 2008 @ 8:16 pm
What we will have to do to stop the drain on the local economics and solve the immigrant problem will be to get all those blacks who are mooching off the government and give their social security numbers to the people who are willing to work in low paying jobs. They are the one saying that the mexicans are taking all the governments money but that is not so because they do not want to get deported back to Mexico. These black people are getting at least a 1,000 to 2,000 a month in food stamps are are buying at least three cars full of groceries. Some are even trading their food stamps for cash and paying for other peoples groceries to get cash, that they need. And the free housing is so full of black people.
8 Foreman 17 April 2008 @ 1:43 am
this is a great idea (and by the way a comedian actually did think of this to bad it wasn’t a politician) i think that we should make a foreign legion similar the French so it wouldnt bring down American moral if something happened to them (that sounds terrible but hey im throwing out ideas) and of course at the end of 8 years they would be transfered to the American legions as they earn citizenship. plus by that time they will probably have learned English and could be able to function in society, employers are much more willing to hire ex-military personnel because they know they aren’t going to slack off. ok and one more thing, with china ready to attack (im just saying i really wouldn’t be surprised if they attacked us when our economy collapses in the next ten years) it wouldn’t be a bad thing to have extra man power to throw into the fight.
9 sweetliberty 24 April 2008 @ 10:18 pm
Oh really.
This just happened about a month ago
Friday, April 25, 2008
U.S. sailor indicted for slaying, robbing taxi driver in Yokosuka
YOKOHAMA (Kyodo) Public prosecutors indicted 22-year-old U.S. Navy Seaman Olatunboson Ugbogu on Thursday for the murder-robbery of a taxi driver last month in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture.
Ugbogu, a Nigerian national and crew member of the 7th Fleet cruiser Cowpens, is charged with fatally stabbing 61-year-old taxi driver Masaaki Takahashi with a kitchen knife on March 19 and fleeing without paying a cab fare of around ¥19,000.
U.S. Navy & A Nigerian National
10 Phantom 27 December 2008 @ 7:32 am
Oh really…? Weather you like It or not the immigrants wouldn’t leave.this contry is being build on immigrants, where would you find a guy that would work all day for 20 bucks.. Huh..? Exatly no American citizen would ever do such thing. The job they are doing and most dying for it, don’t offer Heath care, or type of medical help and etc… For under a dollar a hour, one dollar a hour, come on. This is call a f** slavery. Like my old man, 72 years old n still waiting for that bull immigration procsess. Most these immigrants don’t evn need us citizen ship, who do?.. I know people that are American citizen that hate this contry n I find it funy. You see u.s citizen that don’t want to work because they on welfare, make more babies and the state support you. I know a kid who was a major in jrotc, smart n top of his classes his grades were higher than us American kids back then. dam shame he couldn’t make it in the air force because of immigration status, he was the kind of person America need. Look @the ugly facts… I have Mexican friends, I Neva like them but maybe it was because I Neva stop to think for a second the importance of their presence. Another fact is you can’t get rid of 13 million people that’s feeding the economy. Well you can but it’s gona cost you more number of dollars than you can ever imagine. So let them be citizen and pay taxes, it’s not like they plan on staying for life it that worth it. The non-stop work and stress, fear and heatlh. Thank god m u.s a citizen but what I see sometime aint right. These people are not being humanly treated or deserve what they do for living. they have heart and courage. so America can decide not documenting them but you know what, it don’t matter good for the employers terrible for tax payers. I must say this been going on way more than you been born n still will keep on.. Peace out, glod bless America and remember the decision you make will afect lives n families
11 eddie 24 March 2009 @ 7:53 pm
Why not making it so immigirants who came here as babies who had no say in coming to america get the chance to join the millitary ik some mexicans who love this country more than mexico, they know us history better than us. One time I recall my teacher giving us a test in class we all took it and this kid who ik is illegal scored the highest we then found out its the test given to ppl who wanna be citizens I was shocked that a foreigner knew american hostory better then the rest of clas so lets let them join so they can get their citiizenship after all they didn’t chooce to come here their parents did.
12 Martin 18 April 2009 @ 11:22 pm
well i personally believe that it will be a good idea very good indeed. I was raised in this country went to elementary school, middle school, high school graduated a year earlier than I was supposed to. Within High school I wanted to take JROTC which i did for 2 years got up to the staff sargeant rank in that class i loved it. Well as you can see my english is not so bad. I got a diploman and went to college for a year. Tried to find out the requirements to join the marines or army but its impossible. The recruits told me to call them back when I get my papers……so You all may be asking yourselves how in the hell did I make it thru to this point? I was born in south america but i Love this country and i would give my life to defend it. The oportunities were from people that cared and sacrifices I’ve made made me keep going and live without papers as yall say made me realize I am no different and that I am better than those beggers that are on the streets begging for money that they actually have a social security number and the chances while I don’t but there they are standing with a piece of carboard and there I am driving my car talking on my cell phone while I have no papers raised here with an education because this is my life and my country even if i dont have papers I do contribute alot. So for people out there like me speak out. So I do think United States have people like me that will do anything not for the papers or for the adventure of going to different places or for more education but for all of them to benefit mostly this country. Thanks
13 Paul 3 August 2009 @ 1:04 am
1. During the Vietnam War, some people were rewarded with citizenship in exchange for their duty in the US Armed Forces. Why can’t this be done now, when there is no draft (as Vietnam Era had), when troops are needed and the U.S. Army has failed to meet recruiting quotas in the last few years.
2. Currently in congress, there is a bill called the D.R.E.A.M. Act that is pending. It states, that if a child came to this county illegally before the age of 16, graduated high school and has been of good moral character (not charged with any crimes)and this bill is made into law, then that child would be given temporary residence at which time, they would have complete 2 years of college or 2 years of service in the US Military. When asked on their opinion, the Pentagon stated that they would welcome such a law. According to statistics, 65,000 illegal kids graduate every year from high school.
14 D 11 August 2009 @ 4:18 pm
Some important points:
1. Undocumented immigrants can actually pay taxes, they just need to get an ITIN number which is given by the IRS (it is an easy process also). The difference is that, in comparison to citizens, they don’t get a single penny back). Most undocummented immigrants DO apply for ITIN because in order to change their status (if they get the chance to do so) they need some proof that they have been paying taxes.
PROOF:
http://www.irs.gov/individuals/article/0,,id=96287,00.html#itin
2. Not all immigrants are from Mexico, nor from South America only. Many Europeans are too.
I Love America,
-D
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