In December 2008 right before he left office, George W. Bush began a program called MAVNI (Military Accessions Vital to the National Interest) to give immigrants living in the U.S. a fast-track to U.S. citizenship in return for them enlisting in the U.S. military. This was at a time when the U.S. military was not only in serious need of recruits to fill highly skilled positions(doctors, dentists, linguists, I.T. etc) but also wanted to ramp up its general recruitment for the various military deployments overseas.
A brilliant decision was made by the Bush Administration to tap into the U.S. immigrant population most of whom tend to be highly educated and would readily jump at the opportunity to display their loyalty to their adopted home (U.S.) through military service–a perfect symbiotic relationship. According to the Rachel Maddow Show(Joy Reid subbing) the MAVNI program has lived up to its symbiotic expectations, with the U.S. military benefiting from the technical expertise and an eagerness to serve from immigrants, and the immigrants reaping the benefits of U.S. citizenship–a very rational arrangement which the Obama administration gladly adopted from the Bush administration.
Enter the irrational Trump administration. In 2017 the Trump administration, probably assuming this was Obama-created policy it had to reflexively nix, suspended the MAVNI program that has worked so well both for the U.S. military and the families of the immigrants who opted into it. Then on July 5, 2018 the AP reported that the Trump administration has began discharging from the military, immigrants who enlisted through the MAVNI program subjecting them and their families to immigration jeopardy up to and including deportation
Like the “Zero Tolerance” policy that led to worldwide outrage for it’s senseless separation of children from their parents, the decision to nix the MAVNI program also appears not to have been well thought out in advance. There is no rational explanation for summarily discharging members of the U.S. military in good standing and subjecting them and their families to deportation. If anything, just like the family separation policy, this is yet another illustration of the cruel and inhumane nature of the Trump administration.
Bottom line, Dems must go to bat for these immigrant families the same way they did against the evil "Zero Tolerance" policy. Countless immigrant families should not be allowed to suffer because of the irrational Trump administration's decision to end the MAVNI program that has worked very well for both the U.S. military and immigrant families.
For those of you very happy with @Emolclause’s activism don’t shy away from the “tip jar” below on your way out