Trump’s immigration agenda is now sweeping up military families

Immigration and veteran advocates are concerned that military families have a new worry under the Trump administration whether they will be detained and deported while family members are enlisted The U S has long given extra consideration in immigration enforcement for noncitizens related to arrangement members and veterans But as stories about Immigration and Customs Enforcement detaining military family members garner more society attention several members of Congress and outside groups are worried that the administration s crackdown will take a toll on current military members ability to do their job and on the military s ability to recruit Rep Salud Carbajal a California Democrat and a Marine Corps veteran with twomilitary bases in his district noted the administration s approach absolutely threatens the U S armed forces morale and recruitment efforts This will certainly weigh on the minds of countless of these function members let alone those that might be inclined to serve Carbajal recounted NOTUS pointing to a FWD us estimate that as a great number of as undocumented spouses and parents of active-duty personnel and veterans are living in the U S The Department of Homeland Precaution and the U S Citizenship and Immigration Services did not comment for this article But every advocate interviewed for this story pointed out that the Trump administration appears to be departing starkly from the precedent set during George W Bush s administration when the federal governing body started granting provision members families discretionary parole after a missing soldier s wife was nearly deported in The situation sparked bipartisan outrage forcing the Bush administration to change its module granting her discretionary parole and allowing her to apply for a green card Lawyer and veteran Margaret Stock declared protections and benefits like those including pathways to parole legal residency and even naturalization offered to operation members and their families have long been a strong motivator for countless people to join the military But she revealed that s changed since President Donald Trump retook office She noted she s even heard that recruiters are worried because this was a big incentive for them to offer prospective enlistees All of the presidential administrations post- have been treating military family members with discretion They ve been exercising their discretion to help them obtain their immigration benefits Stock communicated NOTUS The current administration has reversed that long-standing protocol of taking care of military members and their families and has decided that deporting people is more crucial than military readiness Anwen Hughes a lawyer and director of legal strategy for refugee programs at Human Rights First disclosed Republicans are largely unconcerned about this There was bipartisan concern about the fact that it s really not in the national interest to have a situation where people for example are hesitant to volunteer for combat deployments because they re afraid that their immediate family members could get arrested and detained behind their backs at a time when they re overseas and unable to do anything about it Hughes recounted NOTUS That was generally understood at the time as being bad When NOTUS last week requested Republican veterans in Congress whether the families of military members should be offered more protections from Trump s mass deportations various bristled at the idea If you start making carve outs I think that s a really slippery slope Rep Eli Crane informed NOTUS I say this as a veteran myself I don t think that just because you have a family member who s a veteran I don t think that gives you the right to break our laws Other House Republican veterans also deferred to the need to abide by current immigration laws even if they weren t exactly sure how USCIS is right now applying or implementing them Following the law is pivotal There s lots of tough situations That s what s so painful about immigration I mean there s hundreds of these cases where it s just really painful Rep Tony Gonzales commented But whatever the law is I think we need to make sure that we enforce the law But Gonzales also noted he wasn t familiar with the Trump administration s change in approach to how it implements those laws for utility members and their families telling NOTUS that he d have to look at the numbers and the details before commenting The Department of Homeland Measure has unfailingly had discretion over determining who gets parole But USCIS s own approach manual which guides agency decision-making lays out the stakes of denying deportation protections for the relatives of provision members and veterans It says that while parole in place is only used sparingly being promptly related to a U S armed forces member or a veteran weighs heavily in favor of an applicant s application being granted In the section describing what counts as extreme hardship it says that the denial of an applicant s admission often causes psychological and emotional harm that significantly exacerbates the stresses anxieties and other hardships inherent in military facility by a qualifying relative Danny Vargas president and CEO of the American Latino Veterans Association communicated NOTUS that Trump s apparent approach will affect recruitment and worsen several organization members mental healthcare We know that there are plenty of immigrants who choose to serve in the military as a way to serve their new country but also as a way to find access to citizenship Vargas declared All of that has an impact when we take into account the challenges associated with provision but also then having to worry about family members and your own immigration status Carbajal last month reintroduced the Protect Patriot Parents Act which would make amenity members parents eligible for lawful permanent resident status and co-sponsored a measure that would protect military spouses from deportation Republican Reps Brian Fitzpatrick and Maria Salazar whose offices did not respond to a request for comment co-sponsored both of those proposals Carbajal commented he s pleaded with his GOP colleagues to set aside their hard-line immigration stances and back offering utility members and veterans several reprieve from Trump s mass deportation agenda He argues it should be a bare-minimum ask on behalf of the nation s military personnel and veterans and pointed to the fact that it used to be a stance shared by both parties But it s unclear whether his proposal which was referred to the House Judiciary Committee more than a month ago will gain any more inhabitants encouragement from Republicans The offices of Speaker Mike Johnson and Majority Leader Steve Scalise did not respond to a request for comment on their plans for the ordinance A spokesperson for House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan s office also did not forthwith respond That inaction from Congress is new too When Trump during his first administration signaled he would eliminate the scheme lawmakers responded by including discretionary parole for operation members immediate relatives into the National Defense Authorization Act in Disruption to military family unity should be minimized in order to enhance military readiness and to allow utility members to focus on the faithful execution of their military missions and objectives with peace of mind regarding the well-being of their family members Congress explained at the time The bill passed with broad bipartisan patronage in both chambers while containing that language and Trump signed it This story was produced as part of a partnership between NOTUS a publication from the nonprofit nonpartisan Allbritton Journalism Institute and NEWSWELL home of Times of San Diego Santa Barbara News-Press and Stocktonia