On Tuesday, President Donald Trump signed a new defense authorization bill, which included a measure to protect immigrant recruits from the threat of deportation due to enlistment contract cancellations while they await the completion of background checks. It is a major step forward for lawmakers and advocates wanting to ensure that non-citizens continue to be a reliable pool for recruitment.
The amendment, inserted into the new $700 billion spending bill by Senators, Richard J Durbin, and Kamala D Harris, enables Defense Secretary, Jim Mattis, to provide immigrant recruits on active duty with an extra year awaiting the finalization of background checks before they set off for basic training. Two years waiting time was standard under previous rules, but in September 2016, an array of complicated and time-consuming new security rules were introduced. These had such a severe slowdown effect on the process that the Pentagon shuttered the program three months later, due to concerns over foreign infiltrators and a massive backlog of background screenings.
The result of this was that recruits were left waiting for such a long time that over 1000 identified in June by the Pentagon lost their legal immigration status and were at risk of deportation from the US.
In a press release, Harris said the new legislation would help to ensure that immigrant recruits would continue to be allowed to serve and not end up being victims of a lumbering bureaucracy.