A New Chapter for American Immigration

A New Chapter for American Immigration

Immigrants are what make America the melting pot. They come from all parts of the world and for all kinds of reason. Many have done so legally through the system; however when the public thinks of immigration, they think about the problem of illegal immigration. But, many immigrants contribute to America by enlisting to become citizens. According to Max Boot and Michael O'Hanlon, authors of the Washington Post's column "A Military Path to Citizenship", the U.S. government should have the option to invite foreigners or immigrants, illegal or legal, to join the armed forces as a path for citizenship after four-years of duty. Boot and O'Hanlon argue that a military path to citizenship should be an option that will help fix the armed forces' soldier deficiency, provide a legal path for immigrants, attract educated people around the world, and understand other cultures better. Offering citizenship to immigrants who first join the army will help immigrants who want pursue the American dream as it will help the U.S. be a better country.

Since there is an absent draft in today's recruitment system that is affecting the number of enlistments, allowing immigrants to join the armed forces will help fill the gap. Some might argue that is wrong to use immigrants as mercenaries to fill that gap up, but the reality is that we already rely on mercenaries. According to Boot and O'Hanlon, "For one thing, we already rely on tens of thousands of real mercenaries: the security contractor the U.S. government employs from Colombia to Iraq to make up for the lack of troops" (A29). These immigrants will help meet the commitments that are required for the armed forces to work properly. These new soldiers will help relax the overworked military. These tired soldiers have been deployed more than two times; and with lack of enlistment, there is no chance that those tired soldiers will be able to endure future commitments. Though some might say that the military has met their recruitment goals trough fiscal year, but according to Boot and O'Hanlon, those goals were only met by allowing older people and criminals to join, and by spending more on unnecessary advertisement and extra recruiters.

Instead of misusing the military budget, the government should use that money to help fix the immigration problem by bringing immigrants to fill for the lack of troops in exchange for citizenship. Skeptics might argue that the immigrants will use tax payers' money for the sake of citizenship. Yes, they will be using the taxpayers' money, but they will be using that money to fix two problems, immigration problem and the military' deficiency, with one shot. Using the taxpayer's money will not be worthless because immigrants will have work to earn that desired citizenship. They will have to be on duty for at least four years. These immigrants have to face dangerous tasks that in order to gain citizenship.

Giving away U.S. citizenship for joining the armed forces would draw all kinds of people, however only those who are educated will be able