- Jasmine Gonsalez
“‘Deported veterans…Think about that for a second,’” Kai Ryssdal tweeted in November 2017. As a well-known public radio host and journalist, Ryssdal’s response to a viral photo showing a group of deported veterans in Juarez, Mexico commemorating Memorial Day prompted thousands of his shocked followers to question how the words “deported” and “veteran” could even be in the same sentence. As responsible citizens, shouldn’t we be asking ourselves and our elected representatives why committing the ultimate act of national allegiance like enlisting in the military, and serving and protecting this country is not enough to be considered worthy of American citizenship?
According to the National Immigration Forum, there are about 40,000 immigrants serving in the military as of 2017, and only the Congressional Hispanic Caucus has estimates on deported veterans, amounting to roughly 3,000 documented cases. The lack of official data and statistics on this group mirrors the government’s apathy and devaluation of immigrant contributions to this country as a whole.
One such case is that of Carlos Jaime Torres. On December 14, 2018, the TWICE-deported veteran who fought in Vietnam, was laid to rest in the Rio Grande Valley State Veterans Cemetery in Mission, Texas. Deported veterans are prohibited from stepping on US soil, however, once dead, they have the right to be transported back and buried with full military honors. It is difficult to ignore the tragic irony of veterans like Torres being permitted back on US soil upon death but being denied stay or entry alive.
It would be easy to blame this abhorrent practice on the current administration, as President Trump’s rhetoric is not only anti-immigrant and racist, he also seems to have adopted negative views on veterans. Some examples include his dehumanization of immigrants by calling them “animals” and “rapists” and increasing family separations, reinforcing the stigma around veterans suffering from PTSD, and famously disparaging the late John McCain’s service because of his capture and torture in Vietnam.
However, it will come as a surprise to most that it is not Trump’s administration who began deporting servicemen and women. Again, with no exact record keeping by the government on this matter it is hard to say when the practice started, though an ACLU report found that “deported veterans were in the US legally and sustained physical wounds and emotional trauma in conflicts as far back as the war in Vietnam.” To clarify, these findings include the deportation of veterans beginning at least as far back as the Ford administration, all through the Clinton years, and even under Obama.
Sadly, this despicable practice is one of the few issues that has been allowed to continue through the bipartisan tradition of creating immigration laws meant to exclude and punish, while also making the path to citizenship a near impossible-to-complete labyrinth. Instead, immigrant soldiers have had to listen to the Commander in Chief when he sends them off to war, and yet cannot vote for him. They are sent to command posts around the world but are denied American passports to freely travel. Their bravery it seems, is only acknowledged in death.
While we look towards servicemen and woman as shining examples in patriotism, courage, and love of country, the service of immigrants in the military who hold these same values is discounted and forgotten once they try to legally become part of American society. As the traditional imperialist history of this country dictates, we use immigrant soldiers for their service, and discard them through deportations once they become useless. As a peace offering, we offer them crumbs in the form of military funerals.
Instead of sitting back and letting history repeat itself by denying immigrant veterans American citizenship, we need to fight for their rights just as much as they have fought to serve and protect us. Rather than creating laws to exclude and remove, or build walls to divide, we must re-write the history books to fully recognize how immigrant veterans have helped build this country and kept it safe. As media outlets start to cover this topic more, it is a welcome change to see bipartisan efforts from Texan Senator Vicente Gonzalez (D) and Alaskan Senator Don Young (R) in proposing a bill that would grant citizenship to immigrants currently serving, and repatriate deported veterans. While we can never fully repay these veterans for their sacrifice, granting them citizenship is a good first step.
Jasmine Gonsalez is an International Migration Studies Masters student currently working on her Master’s thesis exploring the influence of immigrant family culture on Second Generation Latinx Student’s decisions to take out loans in order to pursue a higher education.