The Pentagon is pushing back against claims that immigrants are being purged from the U.S. Armed Forces.
Calling out a misleading report by the Associated Press, a U.S. Defense official said “there is no new policy” for immigrants who wish to join the U.S. military, Fox News reported.
In a report published this week, the Associated Press claimed that the U.S. Army is “quietly discharging immigrant recruits.” But the implied message that the administration is targeting immigrants even in the military, while met with outrage, turned out to be not what it appeared.
The AP story quoted a retired U.S. Army colonel about 40 recruits who were hoping to obtain citizenship and had been abruptly dismissed from the military recruiting program, known as MAVNI (Military Accessions Vital to the National Interest), which began in 2009 under former President George W. Bush to meet the military’s need for immigrants with certain special language skills, Fox News reported.
The program, which was suspended last year due to concerns that the Defense Department was unable to properly vet candidates, saw 10,000 immigrants become naturalized citizens since its start. The 40 recruits in question in the AP report had issues with their security clearances and were not summarily “discharged.”
“Any recruit … who receives an unfavorable security screening is deemed unsuitable for military service and is administratively discharged,” Army spokeswoman Lt. Col. Nina Hill said Friday.
“The notification that they have not been accepted into the program is their notice,” Maj. Carla M. Gleason, a Pentagon spokesperson, said, according to the Washington Examiner. “There has been no change in policy.”
But many reacting to the Associated Press headline on the story expressed outrage that President Trump and his administration seemed to be targeting immigrants.
From former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush who called it “disappointing” to film producer Adam Best who directly stated the recruits were being discharged because they were immigrants.
Disappointing https://t.co/URSw3yyUAG
— Jeb Bush (@JebBush) July 5, 2018
GOP Congressmen spent the Fourth of July in Moscow.
A Chinese factory is making Donald Trump’s 2020 American flags.
US Army recruits are being discharged because they are immigrants.
The Republican Party no longer gets to pretend it is patriotic.
— Adam Best (@adamcbest) July 6, 2018
Former DNC Deputy National Press Secretary, Jose Aristimuno, blasted the Trump administration for “going after immigrants.”
“With all due respect because this administration from day one has been trying to do everything in their power to literally go after immigrants,” he told Fox News’ Dana Perino on Friday.
NPR’s Tim Mak expressed that “here is less than meets the eye here” in the report.
My first impression on this AP story about the Army discharging immigrant recruits is that there is less than meets the eye here.
What the AP needs to show is evidence of a policy shift in the Army. It hasn’t done that.https://t.co/56sp4tYZCi
— Tim Mak (@timkmak) July 6, 2018
This AP article is about immigrants who have enlisted but not gone to basic training.
People who enlist but then cannot go to basic for whatever reason are discharged all the time.
I bet I could find 40 recruits discharged bf basic for being too fat.
— Tim Mak (@timkmak) July 6, 2018
He noted that the AP did “not answer the simple question.”
There are a number of innocuous explanations for these discharges.
Perhaps these immigrant recruits could not pass a background check (by the way there are jobs in the military that don’t require clearance)
The AP does not answer the simple question: Did a policy change here?
— Tim Mak (@timkmak) July 6, 2018
National security analyst, John Noonan, echoed the explanations and offered his own breakdown in a series of tweets.
So here’s where I think the @AP reporter got a little confused. When you raise your hand and take an oath, you belong to the military. But you’re not technically *in* the military. It’s common to get the oath out of the way while initial background checks are on-going.
— John Noonan (@noonanjo) July 6, 2018
If you clear a background investigation, great! Offto basic training and then to specialty training. Congrats private, airman, or sailor, you’re in. But, if you have some issues pop up during the background investigation and *don’t* go off to training, it’s a canceled contract
— John Noonan (@noonanjo) July 6, 2018
If you separate within 180 days of service, you are given an entry-level separation. It’s not an honorable discharge. It’s not a dishonorable discharge. It’s just “hey, this isn’t going to work.” This 180 days requirement reiterated in Section 3A of the memo (above)
— John Noonan (@noonanjo) July 6, 2018
To summarize:
1. Immigrants are still welcome to earn citizenship through service.
2. DoD is not conducting widespread expulsion of non-citizens.
3. Participation in this program is down, but may be do to external factors like strong economy or stricter federal immigration law.— John Noonan (@noonanjo) July 6, 2018
In all, while the AP report created much outrage, it seems the muddy reporting with a misleading presentation of what was actually happening was caught by many.
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Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida where she has been writing for the BizPacReview team since 2015.
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