AP NewsBreak: US Army quietly discharging immigrant recruits

[Arkansas Granny]

Some immigrant U.S. Army reservists and recruits who enlisted in the military with a promised path to citizenship are being abruptly discharged, the Associated Press has learned.

The AP was unable to quantify how many men and women who enlisted through the special recruitment program have been booted from the Army, but immigration attorneys say they know of more than 40 who have been discharged or whose status has become questionable, jeopardizing their futures.

<snip>

Some of the service members say they were not told why they were being discharged. Others who pressed for answers said the Army informed them they'd been labeled as security risks because they have relatives abroad or because the Defense Department had not completed background checks on them.

Spokespeople for the Pentagon and the Army said that, due to the pending litigation, they were unable to explain the discharges or respond to questions about whether there have been policy changes in any of the military branches.

https://apnews.com/amp/38334c4d061e493fb108bd975b5a1a5d?__twitter_impression=true

[secondwind]

1. Unbe-fucking-lievable. Why doesn't this man live and LET LIVE??!!!??

Security risk MY ASS. The security risk is in the White House, THAT is our greatest national risk now.

[Arkansas Granny]

5. These recruits have done more to serve the country than Trump and his tribe.

He is a much greater security risk.

[kevink077]

2. Only one reason for this

Donald Trump is a racist bigot. That is all....

[Cha]

3. Add Pathological Psycho and

I agree.

[uponit7771]

4. A policy to harm immigrants

[Hortensis]

6. More broken words, more betrayals of honor.

We need to speak of honor more.

[Lee-Lee]

7. Yeah, this issue became a mess- here is some background

Last edited Fri Jul 6, 2018, 07:22 AM - Edit history (1)

They are not really being discharged in the conventional sense. They had contracted to join but then did not even ship to Basic Training. It what is called an “uncharacterized” Discharge, essentially saying you never joined or served enough to have a discharge that was based on performance.

This first does not apply to all immigrants who join, only those who joined under MANVI, Military Ascensions for National Vital Interest.

This program was started to give a path for those recruits with vital skills who were not citizens a path in. That meant those with special language skills, medical training, etc. Because many of the jobs were language based in the intel community they required high level security clearances.

The program was troubled from the start. However it was dealt a huge blow by two things. The first was that the previous policy had been that the recruit could start basic training once they had completed an SF-86 and the security clearance investigation was stated. Well, a very high percentage we’re getting denied clearances. Second was that the Obama Administration in a move they hoped would help DACA kids opened the program to them.

The problems were twofold- first most of the DACA kids didn’t have the critical skills the program needed. Second, most of them had incomplete or iffy records when it came time for the security clearance investigations, so even more were getting denied or getting initially in only to find they were not getting clearances.

That lead to the decision in 2016 to do 2 things- first was to halt accepting anyone new. Second was to require the background check and security clearance process to be competed before the recruit goes to Basic Training instead of just started. Because of the high percentage being turned down and some high profile ones that should have never been allowed in this was deemed needed from a security standpoint and because it stopped wasting money training people who would never serve.

So what you are seeing now is the applicants under this program who ended up not being able to get a security clearance are having their enlistment contracts voided, because they couldn’t meet the requirements.

A lot of bad promises were made to a lot of these folks, tge program was never well thought out, and a lot of them tried to join who just never had a background that would let them pass the checks. It was greatly compounded by immigration activists giving people bad advice telling them they were eligible for citizenship even before going to Basic Training, something not true, causing a lot of applicants who had no intention of shipping to or completing Basic Training who just wanted the expedited path.

[Crabby Appleton]

9. Thanks for the info. nt

[Arkansas Granny]

13. Thanks for the info.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

15. Thank you for background and for responding to my post below. . . . nt

[eShirl]

8. Sorry, your genes are too brown, get out of the American gene pool.

[BlueJac]

10. Some one must stop this asshole...

fucking racist!

[Bernardo de La Paz]

11. Not even given honorable discharges; "uncharacterized", so a gray cloud over them. . . . nt

[watoos]

12. Trump is starting to call his followers "elites,"

and he is the "super elite." Elite is just a substitute for Master race. He is saying this at his rallies.

[Lee-Lee]

14. It's not a cloud.

Last edited Fri Jul 6, 2018, 11:06 AM - Edit history (1)

An “Uncharacterized” discharge is not a negative. It’s essentially saying that you were never actually in for a period enough to be evaluated and earn an honorable discharge, but did not do anything bad to earn a general, OTH or dishonorable.

If you have under 180 days of active service, it’s what you get. If you get injured in Basic Training and discharged it’s what you get. If you enlist and before you ship to Basic get pregnant it’s what you get.

It’s essentially an administrive discharge. It’s not punitive and not a negative.