PDA

View Full Version : Service Before Citizenship



thedrifter
02-06-07, 07:18 AM
Service Before Citizenship
MILITARY GATEWAYBy CHRIS ECHEGARAY The Tampa Tribune

Published: Feb 6, 2007

TAMPA - Trevlon Duncan wasn't the only immigrant with a transport unit running nighttime supply missions through Iraq.

Duncan, a U.S. Marine and native of Trinidad, remembers the Russian with a thick accent, a small contingent from South America and the two sergeants who were born in the Dominican Republic.

"I went into the barracks, and I hear this big guy with a distinct Russian accent, heavy," Duncan recalled. "It's not something you expect. But you had people from a lot of different countries."

They were assigned a dangerous task - delivering gas, water, weapons and mail. They braved the roadside explosives and gunfire. Luckily, Duncan said, there were no life-threatening injuries.

Duncan and the others are part of a trend during times of conflict: a rise of immigrants using military service as a gateway to citizenship for themselves and, sometimes, hoping it will help their families. Since 2001, more than 12,000 members of the military have become U.S. citizens. Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm in the 1990s produced similar spikes.

About 35,000 to 40,000 immigrants serve in the armed forces, said Chris Bentley, spokesman for the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration services. About 8,000 enlist every year, according to the Department of Defense.

Currently, there are 2,629 noncitizens deployed in Iraq, according to Maj. Stewart Upton, a Defense Department spokesman. Illegal immigrants are not allowed to enlist, Upton said in an e-mail.

To enlist, immigrants must have their green cards - meaning they're legal residents. Because of their service to the nation, their citizenship gets expedited at no cost to the soldiers. The Bush administration is proposing increasing that cost from $330 to $595 for others.

Becoming U.S. citizens allows military men and women to vouch for their immediate family, getting them on the citizenship track.

"It's a very viable way for an immigrant in the U.S. to show their commitment and attachment to the country," Bentley said. "They are fighting, in harm's way, for rights they've yet to secure for themselves and their families."

After two tours in Iraq, Duncan, 29, became a U.S. citizen in December and attended a naturalization ceremony at the University of South Florida.

There, in uniform, he smiled as he held the certificate making his citizenship official.

"I considered myself one already," Duncan said while visiting his mother on Friday. "I've been shot at and I put on the uniform."

Duncan's mother, Mary, interrupted her son, throwing in a zing about the citizenship process.

"They should be citizens before they head out to war," Mary Duncan said in her Caribbean accent. "They should also make the families of the soldiers citizens, too."

Mary Duncan was born and raised in Port of Spain, Trinidad. She became a legal immigrant after her mother, who lives in Tampa, petitioned for, or sponsored, her. A U.S. legal resident can vouch for, or sponsor, their immediate family members.

Mary arrived in Tampa in 1989. She, in turn, sponsored Trevlon, who arrived in 1997. Trevlon Duncan, who will be 30 in March, is the oldest; he has two sisters here as well. Trevlon Duncan and his grandmother are the only citizens in the family.

"I do like the opportunities America has opened up for me and my children," Mary Duncan said.

Trevlon Duncan cites boredom as the reason he enlisted in the Marines in 1999. "When I signed up, citizenship wasn't the reason. I just wanted to put on the uniform."

He signed up for his second Iraq tour in 2004, attached to the transport unit. Shortly after, military lawyers told Duncan that he could expedite his citizenship.

Duncan, with a year of service left, is enrolled at Hillsborough Community College seeking a degree in justice administration and is contemplating re-enlisting, much to his mother's chagrin.

Other immigrant members of the military who became citizens didn't attend a ceremony.

Since the war on terrorism started - considered Sept. 11, 2001 - 94 posthumous naturalization papers have been given to service members who have died, according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

The immigration agency has also taken the citizenship ceremonies overseas. Since October 2004, the agency has traveled abroad for military naturalization services. It's the first time this was allowed since the Korean War.

Reporter Chris Echegaray can be reached at (813) 259-7920 or cechegaray@tampatrib.com.

Ellie