Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will take into consideration the services undocumented migrants who serve or served in the Armed Forces have rendered to the United States when deciding whether they should be deported.
A new directive from the Department of Homeland Security seeks to formalize a long-established but not always followed practice that has led to expulsion of veterans.
The order is intended to “ensure that service in the Armed Forces by a non-citizen or their immediate family members is taken into account in deciding whether to take civil immigration action against them and what action should be taken.”
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The guideline also establishes that the Government must maintain a registry of undocumented immigrants who serve in any of the branches of the Armed Forces, such as the National Guard, the Army, the Air Force, the Navy, the Marine Corps, the Coast Guard or the Space Force.
Active military personnel will not be subject to removal proceedings, regardless of their immigration status.
Members of the Deported Veterans Support House outside a federal courthouse in Los Angeles, California, on July 9, 2021. Damian Dovarganes / AP
Having belonged to the Armed Forces will be taken into account as "a mitigating factor", regardless of the length of time that service has lasted.
But it will not be taken into account if only training was received
without any performance in the service.
Authorities will also need to consider whether an immigrant veteran is eligible for citizenship by virtue of their military service, in which case they may not be subject to deportation.
This guidance was issued in response to an initiative by the Department of Homeland Security and the Office of Veterans Affairs, according to a press release.
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A Government Accountability Office report in 2019 concluded that 250 immigrant veterans were under threat of deportation between 2013 and 2018, and 92 of them were ultimately removed, according to the Military Times news portal.
Previously, ICE agents were required to document the decision to issue a notice to a veteran, but were not required to identify the veteran status of a person who could be deported when interviewing them, according to the 2019 report.
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During the administration of Donald Trump, a program that for a decade allowed undocumented veterans to have a path to citizenship was suspended.
At the same time, protections for active-duty members of the Armed Forces were removed, putting many at risk of deportation.
Congress is currently discussing several bills to protect veterans from deportation and give them a path to citizenship, but none have come to fruition so far.