Panetta advocates legal status for Dreamers who serve
CONGRESSMAN JIMMY Panetta last week proposed that Dreamers who successfully serve in one of the five branches of United States military should be given legal status, including the possibility of eventual citizenship.
While debating the National Defense Authorization Act — which authorizes military spending for fiscal year 2019 — Panetta proposed an amendment that would give immigrants whose parents brought them to the country illegally a chance for permanent residency and possible citizenship if they serve in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines or Coast Guard.
"After honorably completing the terms of their enlistment, these individuals would be eligible to legally adjust their status in the United States," Panetta, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, told other lawmakers during a 14-plus hour debate on Capitol Hill May 9.
Similar incentives have been included in other Dreamer-related congressional bills, including the Dream Act and Enlist Act, but none of those bills passed.
Attaching the amendment to a major piece of legislation gives it a better chance of getting through, although there's no guarantee. And if it fails this time, Panetta said he won't give up.
"I will continue to author and submit this type bipartisan legislation so that those who came here to live the American dream can serve and give back to the country," Panetta told The Pine Cone Wednesday night. "This includes legislation that provides those who are undocumented and serve in our military the chance to earn a pathway to citizenship."
Recruits under the proposal, Panetta said, would provide the military with an "expanded talent pool" because they possess "strategically valuable language and cultural skills."
The 20th Congressional District representative also insisted that the country wouldn't be "giving" legal status to Dreamers, and that they would need to "earn it" by fulfilling the terms of their enlistment. They would also be subject to the background and security checks like other United States citizen military enlistees.
"Eligible immigrants who wish to patriotically serve the only country that they have ever known and contribute to the United States, I believe, are vital to the interests of the United States," Panetta said.
The proposal would only apply to Dreamers — not immigrants who were adults when they crossed the border into the United States unlawfully.
‘Our country should be willing'
Two Democrats spoke in support of Panetta's proposal, including New Jersey Congressman Donald Norcross, who explained that his daughter-in-law — a Mexican citizen who was brought to the country illegally by her parents, but served in the U.S. Army — was nearly deported after having been found to be undocumented.
"If you are willing to give your life to our country, our country should be willing for you to become a citizen," said Norcross, who explained that his daughter-in-law is now a United States citizen.
Panetta was successful in getting other amendments added to the $716 billion military spending bill, including one that will determine how the Department of Defense can integrate new technology.
The committee adopted the bill last week, and it will go to the House floor for a vote in the coming weeks. Lawmakers are expected to decide on Panetta's Dreamer amendment Monday, his office told The Pine Cone.