Military marriages have additional built-in stresses of safety concerns and extended deployments. However, there’s a growing anxiety for some of those marriages: deportation.
Government crackdowns on illegal immigration are not overlooking the spouses of servicemen and women.
Some soldiers find it ironic that the very government for which they risk their lives is breaking up their families — even while they are deployed. One soldier said it best: “If I’m willing to die for the United States, why can’t I just be allowed to be with my family?”
Posted by Kristin Mehler
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35 Comments
Military Bases are not sanctuary cities, they are required to follow the laws of the United States.
Simple and Factual…
YEP, CUT AND DRIED BY THE REPUBLICANS: SAVE THE COUNTRY, LOSE YOUR FAMILY. . . AND MERRY FREAKIN’ CHRISTMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL: GET YOUR A** BACK ACROSS THE BORDER. CAN YOU FEEL THE LOVE?
I am of the view that, while in sympathy with the soldiers, there should be no exceptions to the law as it is. The LAW is the real problem here and civilians have to deal with the same BS from the immigration service too. Having married a LEGAL immigrant from Canada, I can tell you first hand that they are not the easiest folks to deal with. The law needs to be changed so that illegal immigrants who marry Americans can apply to change status here after they have been married for a period of time- say 3 or 5 years. As it is now, an illegal immigrant- even one who has lived here since childhood- who marries an American must go home to a country they don’t even know and wait 10 years to re-enter the USA. We need a serious overhaul of immigration laws in this. We need to stop new people from sneaking in and give a conditional amnesty to those already here.
Anyone who joins the military should be able to receive some type of amnesty for immediate family.
As much as I oppose illegal immigration, and want to deport all ilelgal aliens, SERVICE MEMBERS are assimilating, as are their spouses.
The spouses of Military members should be allowed to stay, and get a path to citizenship!
Allowing the nationals of other countries to infiltrate our military? Oh yeah! That’s a great idea!
Total deportation now.No exceptions, no excuses.
If military gets amnesty, then everyone else should get amnesty.
I feel for these soldiers but did they not know their spouse was illegal when they joined the military or when they married after joining the military?
The law needs to be changed so that illegal immigrants who marry Americans can apply to change status here after they have been married for a period of time- say 3 or 5 years.
Posted by: Kev | October 08, 2007 at 06:05 AM
WRONG!
Marrying an American practically (but not always)already gives you a free pass to citizenship, IF you follow the rules.
The spouse can come here legally AFTER completing the necessary paperwork with BCIS, and typically gets a green card in < 1 year. Then after 2 years, they may apply for US citizenship.
If the spouse is already here illegally, they should go back home, file the proper paperwork, and come back LEGALLY.
If you are stupid enough to marry an illegal immigrant, you should not expect to get a FREE PASS EXCUSE for not following the LAW.
Serving in the Military does NOT provide you with the right to break the law.
A few years ago the Los Angeles Times reported how the Army sent out a contingent to inform a family that their son had been killed in Iraq. Next came INF agents who arrested the grieving parents who happened to be 30-year-residents of the United States, and shipped them off to Mexico.
Their so-called “anchor baby” had died in service to his country, but despite 30 years of living as Americans — even raising a military hero — his parents were deemed unworthy to stay here.
It was all quite “legal,” but was it right?
Rich Saudis who blow up buildings? . . . please, come in and stay as long as you like.
Poor Mexicans and Filipinos married to American service personnel? . . . Get the hell out, Mojado!
Republican = no honor, no guts, no shame
Don’t marry an immigrant, don’t marry someone of the same sex, damn, these Republicans really hate marriage. That explains why they have to find love in brothels and public restrooms.
Don’t marry an ILLEGAL immigrant Doug.
Don’t slant the story now.
And Doug, you want to marry another man, go ahead, I don’t care.
So let me get this straight, folks like Econ101 want to give amnesty to the illegals in the military and their family.”Anyone who joins the military should be able to receive some type of amnesty for immediate family.Posted by: Econ101 | October 08, 2007 at 07:39 AM ”
Not a bad idea. What this would do is create a defacto program through which someone can illegally enter the US, join the military, serve their required time, and become a citizen or permanent resident.
Maybe we should just be upfront about this – change the immigration law to provide a clause that foreign persons can elect to join the US military, serve 5 years then they, their spouse, and children will be given US citizenship.
Given recent reckless foreign policy and outright misuse of our military, I know they are up against it for recruits.
But enlisting foreign nationals into our military??
That seems….unwise.
Neo-Cons will advocate anything as long as it leads to killing brown people.
NeoCons = Conservative Jews
I am not Jewish, but I am proud to be called a NeoCon.—-CapnYou will notice that I support some type of amnesty for the families of military personnel.
You will note that one of your liberal pals, on this thread, is entirely against any amnesty for the families of military personel.
Therefore, isn’t your ad-hominem attack against Republicans a bit out of place, on this thread?—–EVERY War America has ever fought has included foreign nationals wearing United States uniforms.
Since I’m about to send my sweetie’s paperwork to the Black Hole of Nebraska, let me put in my two cents:What a lot of people don’t consider is how inconsistent and contradictory current immigration law is. It is highly possible–and I even know of a couple of cases–where a person can emigrate LEGALLY, then, because of quota issues, become illegal.
This is largely due to 45 years of “flavor-of-the-month” amendments to immigration law Congresses of both parties have contributed to.
Make the laws consistent, then enforce them.
Mr Controversy, having some personal experience with the BCIS, I agree the BCIS is one of the best examples of how inefficient, and incompetent Big Government can be.
There are many problems with immigration that need to be addressed.
One big problem, that has not been widely discussed is the extremely cumbersome bureacracy of BCIS and how difficult it is for someone who CAN speak English to figure out which 8-part forms to fill out and where to send them.
We need legal immigration. We need to stop illegal immigration. But we MUST make it humanly possible to deal with the BCIS and immigrate here legally.
The BCIS process needs to be reformed and the capacity, competency, and efficiency of BCIS needs to be improved to the point of being able to legally bring in the authorized quota of immigrants every year.
And by the way, historically at the peak of US immigration 100 years ago, approximately 1% of our population immigrated here annually.
1% today would be 3 million people. The latest report I saw has our current quota at 2 million.
I’d be all for 1)fixing BCIS, and 2)increasing LEGAL immigration to 3 million per year.
1. Seal the border.2. Enforce immigration laws and begin deporting illegal immigrants, and begin imprisoning employers hiring illegal immigrants. (Enforce the law on 1% and the other 99% will comply!)3. Fix BCIS giving it the Capacity to Effectively handle 3 million LEGAL immigrants every year.
There Libs, throw that hateful Con crap at me now!
Max,Valid points and some good suggestions. However, I think the first step should be to fix the BCIS.It would be (and obviously IS)quite difficult to enforce current immigration laws and ’seal the border’ with the current BCIS.
The Department needs change, to the point of scrapping it and its philosophies and starting over. Once there are efficient, working, understandable, and enforceable immigration laws, policies, and practices, then it will be much easier to deal with illegal immigration.
Brian, I think we have the resources to fix all 3 at once, but right now we can’t do any of the three for some reason.
Mr Controversy, I hope you mailed your forms to the right address. Some are processed in Lincoln, others in Missouri, others in Chicago, then they outsource much to some joint in California.
If you send it to the wrong address look out! You can’t just resend them to the right address, you have to wait for them to be passed around the BCIS world (6 to 18 months)get rejected, then refile with their rejection form reply form.
Yeah, we need more Big Government like this!
Can’t wait to see the paperwork required for HillaryCare!
Ah, “Max” –
You got nothing left with the thread topic so you have to bring up another subject to deflect the failure of your argument.
The paperwork of “HillaryCare?”
Try the paperwork of, say, Medicare. Ask any Medicare subscriber if they’d like to revert to some for-profit health coverage.
Rail against Medicare and tell me how well that argument works with senior citizens.
I dare you.
I double-dog dare you.
Monkey Hawk
Guess what?
MEDICARE DOES NOT DO ITS OWN PAPERWORK!
Almost NONE of Medicare paperwork is done, directly, but government employees.
The federal government is in charge of signing you up for Medicare. (Well, most of the time. Private Insurance Agents and local government Senior Service personel often have to help with mistakes.)
The Federal Government is also in charge of collecting Medicare premiums which are usually, but not always, deducted from Social Security checks.
After that, claims are handeled by contracted agencies, usually other Health Insurance companies.
Blue Cross affiliates hold many of those contracts.
I think, at one time, Mutual of Omaha did a few states. (to bring Nebraska up again!)
“”"”As much as I oppose illegal immigration, and want to deport all ilelgal aliens, SERVICE MEMBERS are assimilating, as are their spouses.
The spouses of Military members should be allowed to stay, and get a path to citizenship!”"”"
In the United States we do not have, nor should we have, one set of laws for members of the military and one for civilians. Places like Pakistan and Russia operate this way. That is why we have “Equal Protection” in our Constitution.
“”"Marrying an American practically (but not always)already gives you a free pass to citizenship, IF you follow the rules.
The spouse can come here legally AFTER completing the necessary paperwork with BCIS, and typically gets a green card in < 1 year. Then after 2 years, they may apply for US citizenship.”"”
It is not always that easy. First you have to petition for a Fiance Visa or marry the spouse in their country and then file for a visa which requires both of you be interviwed and a physical exam be given. If that goes OK (a big IF), you will wait up to 6 months for a visa for your spouse and their children if they have any. After arrival, you will have to apply for a green card and they will be fingerprinted (again) and phtographed (again) and you will wait up to a year for that. While you wait, you will have NO proof of legal residence for your spouse meanning they cannot work, get a driver’s license or Social Security card. If you want, you can get a work permit (another fee) after 90 days. Once you get the Green Card, you then have to wait 2 years from the DATE on the CARD (which is NOT the date you got married) to file a petition to remove the conditional residence status from your spouse and they will then be a full permanent resident. BUT here is the kicker- if something happens to you during the 2 years of condidtional residence- whether in war or on your job or at home and you DIE, your spouse will be deported! You see how assinine the law is yet? Once you reach the 3 year period of the DATE on your green card, you can then apply for Naturalization as a United States Citizen which will typically take another 2 years to get.
“”"Marrying an American practically (but not always)already gives you a free pass to citizenship, IF you follow the rules.
The spouse can come here legally AFTER completing the necessary paperwork with BCIS, and typically gets a green card in < 1 year. Then after 2 years, they may apply for US citizenship.”"”
The problem with that is that, if the spouse was an illegal resident- EVEN if they were brought here at 2 years old through no fault of their own- they cannot be given legal entry for 10 years. That would put a hell of a strain on any marriage.
“”"It was all quite “legal,” but was it right?”"”
There is nothing about immigration laws that is right. Nothing! The next President needs to make reform a top priority.
Screw the illegals
For some people hatred for immigrants trumps everything. The needs of our country’s economy. The valor of people serving in the Armed Forces. The teachings of the Bible. Simple humanity. It’s sad, but that’s the way it is. They have to have a scapegoat.
“Anyone who joins the military should be able to receive some type of amnesty for immediate family.”Posted by: Econ101
A blog first. Paulie is 100% correct here.
My friend Steven is wrong here.
Is it wise to fill our military with foreign nationals? I mean from a security point of view?
More, we have already delegated the fighting of our foreign policy to some extent to the poorest of our own. IF we begin to include the poorest who can get here, don’t we risk even further distancing ourselves from our responsibilities to our military?
By the way?
I’m not saying “screw the illegals.” And I don’t THINK the real GMC said that at 8:52.
Thanks, JR, for the head’s up. And no, I haven’t commented on this thread.
BTW, faux gmc70. Still haven’t figured it out, have you? Gutless and stupid.
“Econ101″ –
I’ve made the point many times in this forum how Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas processes Medicare claims… at a cost of about 3% per benefit dollar. This compares with close to 30% of every benefit dollar eaten up by for-profit insurance carriers.
Since a big chunk of that 30% goes to (as Shrub would say) “put food on your family,” I can sympathize with your diffidence.
It was “Max” who hauled out the red herring about “paperwork under ‘HillaryCare.’” “Max,” of course (and as usual) has no idea what he’s talking about.
When you look at health coverage rationally, the only logical answer is Medicare Everywhere.
(I realize that proposition is a lightning rod for so-called “conservative” irrationalists. Perhaps I can deal with their harping tomorrow in this forum.)
“Is it wise to fill our military with foreign nationals? I mean from a security point of view?”
Huh? The subject is military SPOUSES, JR.
Not reading too carefully today?
I think if a hot foreign woman marrys a serviceman, she should be given automatic citizenship. If they make that law, I might sign up again. Think of all the hotties those guys would be getting throwing themselves at them! They deserve some fringe benefits if ya know what I mean/wink wink.
But don’t put alot of stock in my opinion, I think any hot latina should be allowed full passage and some start up money, because we JUST CAN’T HAVE TOO MANY OF THEM!