Sen. Durbin calls for allowing Dreamers to serve in the U.S. military

Mario Rodriguez is a high school student who dreams of serving in the Navy. But his undocumented status prevents him from being eligible to enlist.

He came to the United States from Mexico with his family when he was 8 years old. Though he doesn’t have a legal status, he considers himself to be an American.

“I’m an American, because I’m ready and willing to support and defend our nation’s Constitution against all those who threaten it,” he said.

Rodriguez was one of the individuals who spoke in support of legislation to allow undocumented youth to serve in the U.S. military at a hearing held Monday at the Phoenix Military Academy in Chicago, where he is a senior with a 4.52 grade point average.

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Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), who chairs the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, hosted the hearing. He urged that young undocumented immigrants who qualify for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program be authorized to enlist in the military. More than 550,000 individuals have already received deportation reprieve and work authorization under the DACA program since it was implemented in August 2012.

“It is clear that enlisting Dreamers is vital to the national interest because it would make the Armed Forces more diverse and inclusive, and it would allow the Armed Forces to access a well-qualified, educated, homegrown talent pool,” said Durbin.

The Illinois senator has long advocated for legislation benefiting Dreamers. In 2001, he helped introduce the DREAM Act, a bill that would allow undocumented youth to be put on a path to citizenship if they meet certain requirements, such as graduating from college and serving in the military.

Allowing Dreamers to serve would benefit the military

Among those who participated in Monday’s hearing were Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) and Jessica Wright, the acting undersecretary for personnel and readiness at the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD).

They both agreed that allowing Dreamers to serve would increase the pool of young people who are eligible to enlist in the military. Currently, the DOD estimates that about 75 percent of all Americans between the ages of 17 and 24 are unable to join the military either because they didn’t graduate from high school, have criminal records or are not physically fit.

“Legislation like this would assist the military and potentially our recruiting efforts and increase the pool of eligible young individuals that we do enlist,” Wright said, referring to the DREAM Act.

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Monday’s hearing comes as Democratic senators consider adding a provision in the National Defense Authorization Act that would allow undocumented youth to gain a legal status if they serve in the military.

Meanwhile, similar efforts are being done in the House where Rep. Jeff Denham has introduced a bill, known as the ENLIST Act, that would allow Dreamers to serve in the military. Denham is working to include his bill in the House version of the of the must-pass defense bill. But House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) plans to block that from happening, according to Politico.

On Monday, Durbin criticized Cantor for his plan to block Denham’s bill. He also warned that if House Republicans refuse to act on legislation that would allow Dreamers to serve, the Obama administration could take action.

“For example, the Defense Department can authorize the enlistment of non-citizens when it is ‘vital to the national interest,’” he said. “This determination is entirely in the discretion of the Defense Department.”

Why some oppose allowing Dreamers to enlist in the military

Those who oppose allowing Dreamers to serve in the military and gain legal status argue that doing so would be considered amnesty. Earlier this month, a group of former U.S. military leaders wrote a letter in which they said it would be “a serious mistake to open military service to those known to have violated the laws of the United States.”

“Whether they have done so by coming to this country illegally and living here in violation of immigration statutes, either at their own initiative or as a result of the actions of family members, they have acted in a manner inconsistent with the oath to support and defend the Constitution that they will be required to swear upon enlisting,” the military leaders wrote.

SEE ALSO: Steve King: Dreamers should be deported, not allowed to join military

But Kevin Kelley, who oversees the Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (JROTC) program at 45 public schools in Chicago, argued against that notion while speaking at Monday’s hearing. He said many Dreamers came to the U.S. through no fault of their own and grew up feeling American.

Kelley estimates that about 10 percent of the nearly 11,000 students enrolled in the JROTC program in the Chicago public school system are undocumented. Their undocumented status, he said, prevents them from attending service academies, like the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, and from enlisting in the military despite being highly qualified.

“I believe that if Dreamers were authorized to enlist, the path for success for these students would open up, and they would become outstanding service men and service woman for our country,” he said.