U.S. Army Opened to Immigrants

HONOR: A group of U.S. Army recruits are led through the swearing-in ceremony by Army Chief of Staff, General George Casey Jr. The event was held at Times Square on Wednesday, along with the introduction of a program that allows non-U.S. citizens to enlis (Edward Dai/The Epoch Times)

NEW YORK—Immigrants will now be able to enlist in the U.S. Army before becoming official U.S. citizens. The announcement was made during a press conference on the Times Square military island Wednesday morning.

The new program is still in its pilot stage. It will allow immigrants to enlist in the U.S. Army after residing legally in the United States for at least two years. Applicants do not need to have green cards or hold U.S. citizenship.

For immigrants wanting to become U.S. citizens, the program will greatly speed up the application process, as military naturalizations now have to be processed within six months—as opposed to the sometimes five or six years wait endured by many.

At Times Square, the national anthem was played to launch the event. Soldiers stood in full salute as the music played. A batch of new recruits stood in line, some enduring the cold wind calmly while awaiting the arrival of Army Chief of Staff General George Casey Jr. who would conduct the ceremony to swear them into service.

Once the music finished, Mr. Casey stepped forward to give a few words to the new recruits, some of whom were among the first batch of non-U.S. citizen enlistees.

“You’re joining an organization that is the best in the world at what it does,” he said. “It’s not just about physical strength. It’s about having the moral strength to persevere when things get very, very hard. We say we’re ‘Army strong’ because of our values, because of our diversity, and because of our warrior ethos.”

He then administered the oath of enlistment, whose words have gone largely unchanged since the time of the American Revolution. The new recruits raised their right hands and recited the words. Other military personnel in the audience also stood to reaffirm their oaths to defend the constitution, follow the orders of the president, and to follow regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

Medals were then awarded to current soldiers for acts of heroism before the main event came to a close. A question and answer session was held after the ceremony.

Speaking about the new program, Mr. Casey told reporters that he’s “quite satisfied with the results” thus far and that the pilot program may be expanded to “a couple other cities because of the draw that we’re getting.”

An upside found in the program is that it brings in people who speak a diverse number of languages—a difficult to find quality that the Army has been looking for in new recruits.

Among those who were sworn in at Wednesday’s ceremony was Stephen Chi, a 30-year-old immigrant from Norway. Mr. Chi said he wanted to join the Army to “become a better person.”

“I want to be part of something bigger than myself. I thought the Army was something I could do,” he said. “It’s going to mold me, starting with the basic training. It’s going to be hard but it’s going to change me into a different person.”

To ensure security, all applicants must pass extensive background checks to be accepted into service. They are also limited to approximately 80 specialties within the Army and will be unable to obtain security clearances.

According to Benjamin Freakley, lieutenant general of U.S. Army, the program has already received 4,833 applicants, among whom only “40 overall have actually come in. The rest are being processed,” he said.

Mr. Freakley’s command is responsible for the program. He stated that thus far “we have a great spread of talent for their education background, we have a great spread of language, and we have a great spread of applicants. So we’re very pleased with the current status of the program.”

The lead officer of the program, Lieutenant Colonel Margaret Stock explained how the idea came about. “After 9-11 a lot of people were coming into recruitment stations and trying to join the army and we were turning them away, even though they were highly qualified,” she said. “We started looking at this and trying to find out if there was a way to do it, and lo and behold, we found out there is a legal way for us to bring these people into the Army. In fact we can bring them in without any change in the law.”

“In past wars, World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, anybody who was in the United States and wanted to join the military and met our requirements could join.”

Ms. Stock said that an already existing statute they’re using for the program allows for the expedited naturalization of anyone serving honorably in the U.S. military during times of war, regardless of their immigration status.

“That statute is on the books because in prior wars we always recruited anybody who was qualified and willing to serve the United States and we would allow them to become American citizens in exchange for their services,” Ms. Stock said.

When asked how the program differs from the French Foreign Legion—which accepts nearly anyone, regardless of citizenship or background—Ms. Stock said that there are several major differences. Among them is that the U.S. program does not accept applicants with a criminal history, the soldiers will serve in the Army side by side with those who enlisted as citizens, there are extensive checks done on all applicants by the Department of Homeland Security, and there are no conduct waivers.

“This isn’t really anything new. We’ve done this in prior wars,” she said. “It’s been very, very successful in prior wars. We’re just kind of returning to a historical tradition.”