By Felicia Persaud
Memorial Day came and went on May 31st and while there was much emphasis on the many American veterans of war, lost in the many media tributes were the immigrants, especially new migrants of recent years who have served in the U.S. military on the frontlines of the battles in Iraq and Afghanistan as green card holders and now face deportation.
As the Department of Homeland Security seeks more funding to boost its already sky high deportation rates, forgotten it seems are the many immigrant veterans who continue to be denied U.S. citizenship after putting their lives on the line for this country, only to end up being given the boot after.
Among them, 62-year-old Valente Valenzuela, who was wounded in Vietnam, issued a Bronze Star for bravery. Valente and his brother, who also fought in the Vietnam War, have both been ordered out of the country and back to Mexico, a country they barely remember. The two brothers have become the latest “poster child” for speaking out on this silent epidemic that’s infecting migrant veterans worst than the wars they fought in.
Then there is U.S. Marine Corps veteran Rohan Coombs, who was born in Jamaica and signed up to serve his adopted nation for six years — first in Japan and the Philippines, then in the Persian Gulf during the first war with Iraq.
But who really cares? Not many it seems since even the Denver Memorial Day Parade organizers told Valenzuela not to bring any posters focused on this issue in their Parade last Monday.
President Obama, for all the talk about his support for immigration reform, also did not focus on this issue in his major Memorial Day tribute to veterans. In fact, it seems the message is clear: kill yourselves in our defense if you want to, but we really don’t have to keep you in our country.
The current presence of immigrants in the military has a number of historical precedents. According to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the foreign born composed half of all military recruits by the 1840s and 20 percent of the 1.5 million service members in the Union Army during the Civil War.
Today, according to Department of Defense statistics as of May 2010, there are about As 16,966 non-citizens on active duty and about 8,000 permanent resident or green card holders enlist each year. And the DOD has proudly boosted that The Dream Act, should it become law, will only help in its ability to harvest more young migrant men and women to defend the U.S.
The numbers of vets facing deportation or who have been deported is not as forthcoming but they are out there and facing this uphill tasks. What a shame it is for a country that claims they care so much for those who served. The pomp and circumstance that went into Memorial Day parades all across the country, including on Capitol Hill is nothing but plain hypocrisy when immigrant veterans continue to struggle to be given the respect they deserve – citizenship and freedom from deportation. It is not enough to honor veterans with talk and pieces of paper and metal when they are dead. Immigrant veterans must get the true respect they deserve – to be treated and U.S. citizens and not like murderers – detained and deported.
The writer is founder of NewsAmericasNow, CaribPR Wire and Hard Beat Communications.
