COUNTERING MILITARY RECRUITMENT
Articles: Military Service: Casualties
U.S. Deports Parents of Dead Soldiers
Domenico Maceri, New America Media
September 5, 2007
One tenth of the U.S. soldiers who have died in Iraq have beenimmigrants. But not all of their parents have qualified for green cards.
Three years after U.S. Army Private Armando Soriano, 20, died
fighting in Haditha, Iraq, his father is facing deportation. Soriano
is now buried in Houston, Tex., his hometown, where his parents,
undocumented workers from Mexico, are currently living.
Before his death Soriano had promised his parents he'd help them get
green cards. He only succeeded partially before losing his life.
Although his mother was able to obtain a green card, his father did
not qualify and is on the verge of being deported.
Enrique Soriano, Armando's father, is not the only person to have
lost a son or daughter in the Iraq war and face deportation. There
are more than three million people born in the U.S. with parents who
came into the country illegally. Those born in the U.S. are
automatically citizens and have all the rights and duties enjoyed by
Americans. That includes military service with the possibility of
losing one's life.
Losing a son or a daughter is always tragic. To try to compensate the
families the U.S. government makes efforts to help. In the case of
individuals with family members needing immigration help, officials
assist them to obtain green cards. That's what happened with
Soriano's mother. But in spite of governmental flexibility, certain
rules prevent some people from qualifying.
Enrique Soriano had been formally deported in 1999 when he returned
to Mexico for a brief visit. That makes him ineligible for any
immigration benefits. Enrique Soriano is not alone.
Although exact figures are difficult to come by, many parents with
sons and daughters who died in Iraq have been deported.
Official statistics show that more than 68,000 foreign-born military
individuals are serving the U.S. How many of these individuals have
relatives who do not have a legal right to be in the United States is
not known. Figures from the National Center for Immigration Law show
that one in 10 U.S. soldiers who have died in Iraq have been immigrants.
One estimate claims that five percent of those serving in the
American military are illegal immigrants who joined with false
papers. The military does not recruit illegal immigrants. Yet, given
the shortages of volunteers, meeting quotas may put pressure to close
some eyes. Illegal immigrants may feel that joining the military will
help them and their families obtain legal papers in addition to other benefits.
Inevitably, some die in the process. The first soldier to die for the
United States in the Iraq war was in fact Marine Lance Cpl. Jose
Gutierrez, an illegal immigrant from Guatemala.
Enrique Soriano's case is also complicated by the fact that the rest
of his family has a legal right to be in the U.S. His wife has a
green card, three of their four kids are U.S. citizens, and another
born in Mexico has applied for a green card. If Enrique is deported,
the family will have to make the hard choice of going back or separating.
"I think it would be a travesty for these parents to be deported
after their son died in Iraq fighting for his country," stated
Congressman Gene Green, D-Houston. The congressman introduced a bill
in the House, which would help Enrique Soriano obtain a green card.
Nothing has happened yet.
Earlier this year President George Bush commuted the sentence of
Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff.
In so doing, the President spared Libby two and a half years in
prison for his conviction for lying to federal investigators. The
President cited Libby's "exceptional public service" and prior lack
of a criminal record as explanation for his action. He concluded that
Libby's sentence was "excessive" and the punishment "harsh."
In light of the sacrifice made by Armando Soriano, one wonders
whether deporting his father is a far more "excessive" and "harsh" punishment?
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