US Citizenship thru Military Service

Filed in archive Americas on September 18, 2007

Congress proposes in the Development Relief and Education for Alien Minors ("DREAM") Act to qualify undocumented high-school graduates for US citizenship if they either attend college or serve in the military for 2 years.

Under current law, undocumented aliens are not authorized for US military service. The US military is finding it harder to meet staffing needs and the DREAM Act is seen as a way to address that problem. The DREAM Act has not met with success previously and the current effort to emphasize the benefit to the US military may improve chances of passage.

See A military route to citizenship, The arizona republic, September 17, 2007, for more information.