New Americans at JBLM make Pierce County proud. Sadly, this brave path to U.S. citizenship is at risk
Fifteen new citizens from five countries raised their hands and recited an oath of allegiance at JBLM last week. Already bound to the United States as military service members, this crop of new Americans shared several grateful, humbling and inspirational moments together at the base south of Tacoma.
Those of us born into the privilege of citizenship should feel every bit as grateful and humbled by the occasion — and inspired by those willing to defend our country before it was fully their country.
The Nov. 7 JBLM naturalization ceremony had extra meaning because of the Veterans Day observance this week. But it also comes at a time when the fragile rights of non-citizens are on full display at the U.S. Supreme Court. On Tuesday, justices heard arguments to help them decide whether to let President Trump dismantle the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program — and with it, the lives of some 660,000 DACA Dreamers brought to America as children.
For a snapshot of the rich diversity that immigrants add to American society, consider the 15 new citizens who took their oaths at JBLM. Nine are from South Korea, two each from China and the Philippines, one from Kenya and one from Nepal.
Among them was 26-year-old Spc. Ha Un Ryoo, also known by her adopted American name Claire. She came to the U.S. in middle school, earned a genetic biology degree, enlisted as an Army medic and is now on active duty with a JBLM medical unit. Attaining U.S. citizenship, she said, was a “touching moment.”
“It means a lot because I grew up here and all my friends are here,” Ha Un told us in a phone interview Tuesday. “I’m from South Korea but I’m used to life here.”
Though not in the DACA program, Ha Un says she’s sympathetic to Dreamers at risk of being deported to unfamiliar countries. Her words reflect the feelings of those whose fate now rests with the Supreme Court: “All I know is growing up here and living this life.”
After years in the U.S. on a student visa, Ha Un joined the Army under a federal program called Military Accessions Vital to the National Interest (MAVNI); it recruits non-citizens who can bring high-need medical or language skills to their units, placing them on a path to expedited citizenship.
But it’s an increasingly uncertain path since the Obama administration froze MAVNI in 2016 — an action the Trump administration has continued. Ha Un says she’d been waiting for final approval since March 2016.
Some of her peers weren’t so fortunate; many saw their visas and legal status elapse, facing the threat of deportation while waiting to pass more stringent federal background screenings.
Today, non-native military enlistees are being refused citizenship at a higher rate than those not in uniform, according to a McClatchy report in May.
“The U.S. has had a long-standing tradition of immigrants come to the U.S. and have military service provide a path to citizenship,” said retired U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton, a Fox Island resident and senior adviser to VoteVets.org, a veterans advocacy group.
That they’re now granted citizenship less than foreign-born civilians is “a bizarre turn of events,” Eaton told McClatchy.
We agree.
A shadow will fall over America if DACA Dreamers are eventually deported, but an equally dark pall is cast when service members get short shrift. Roughly 2.4 million veterans were born outside the U.S. or are children of immigrants, according to the Migration Policy Institute. Some 300 gave the ultimate sacrifice in combat in the 12 years after the 9-11 terror attacks.
Those 15 service members who raised their hands at JBLM last week are part of an honorable tradition worth preserving.