Dead recruit's father wages campaign against 'green card Marines'

[Judi Lynn]

Dead recruit's father wages campaign against 'green card Marines'
Prospect of careers, citizenship not worth the danger, he warns
Monica Campbell, Chronicle Foreign Service

Sunday, May 22, 2005

Mexico City -- Fernando Suarez del Solar feels a sense of urgency about the war in Iraq -- and not just because he lost his only son there two years ago.

It is his duty, he says, to warn young Latinos about the perils of joining the U.S. military and becoming, like his son, a "green card Marine," lured by promises of a college education, post-service career and fast-track citizenship.

Three years ago, President Bush offered accelerated citizenship to any green card holder who has served in the military since Sept. 11, 2001.

Instead, the bereaved father tells would-be recruits, they could wind up like Marine Lance Cpl. Jesus Suarez, killed at age 20 after he stepped on an unexploded cluster bomb in March 2003, during the first week of the war.
"Immigrants are generally the first on the front lines," Suarez said. "They should know where they'll end up."
(snip/...)

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2005/05/22/MNGQ2CSURU1.DTL

[kikiek]

1. Good to see that someone is addressing this. This has been a glossed over

fact ignored by most reports.

[MountainLaurel]

8. Yep

The recruiters are hot and heavy at the college where I work, where a huge ratio of students are not U.S. citizens -- we draw from largely immigrant communities, including refugees from most of the countries where the U.S. has been involved in overt and illicit operations in the past 30 years.

[VLC98]

2. I can understand the lure

of a college education, health benefits, even learning a skill, but fast-track citizenship? How much does it speed up the process, a couple of years? What's the hurry?

[leetrisck]

3. I believe if you serve one year in Iraq

you will be given citizenship - a lot do not live that long.

[NNN0LHI]

6. A promise of accelerated citizenship does not equal "given citizenship"

There is NOTHING in writing that says they will EVER be given citizenship. Unless they die. That is my understanding of this scam anyway. If you are privy to something that proves otherwise I would be interested in seeing it.

Don

[leetrisck]

15. Call it what you want - you get to become

a citizen in "exchange" for your service. I've never seen it in writing but knew about it from hearing it on the so-called news once. Remember watching bush give 37 of them the citizenship oath at some time some place. Very little has been said about it. They are included in the list of dead.

[NNN0LHI]

17. I just calls em as I sees em

A promise of accelerated citizenship without anything being in writing means we will actually give them nothing. The only difference being is that we will give them nothing much faster than normal.

Don

[Conservativesux]

19. "Service Equals Citizenship" sounds like a "Starship Troopers" line..

and look how many of them died fighting the bugs (Iraqi's).

Only thing is, this isnt a science fiction story. :(

[MADem]

12. It eliminates the residency requirements

...which can be onerous in the context of military service. I had green carders working for me who had been trying to get US citizenship for over eight years, but due to deployments, were unable to complete the process, and were forced to start all over again. I personally did a lot of work toward shortening the process at the higher levels, and that, in itself, was a challenge--the leadership was disinclined to change. We did manage to abbreviate some of the requirements, but this does even more than we were able to accomplish.

This is a dispicable practice, but it is a real lure. It is just like that show GANA LA VERDE (Win the Green--Card, that is) that they showed on Univision or Telemundo, where people competed in Fear Factor type events for the opportunity to get a team of immigration lawyers to help them get into the US.

[VLC98]

21. Correct me if I'm wrong....

to become a US citizen, the normal residency requirement is 5 years from receipt of the green card. Maybe I'm just a fogey, but 5 years doesn't seem that long to me. Why would anyone be in such a rush to become a citizen that they would risk life & limb to do so? I should add that I've had my green card since 1989 and haven't become a citizen....yet.

[MADem]

23. In Canada, it is only three years

The problem with service personnel was that you had to be RESIDENT. If you are deployed overseas, the government looked at that, despite military orders, as not being RESIDENT. With an accompanied tour lasting an average of 36 months, without TWO extensions, no one could do it, save getting back to back stateside tours.

I have a couple of good friends from Europe, who just got their citizenship after decades of green carding. Their kids are US citizens, the oldest one is 40+....so you are not alone.

Now, they have to VOTE, and they won't be rooting for the chimp's team.

[hobbit709]

4. Not only that

but since they're not officially "Americans' yet, they don't get counted on the killed and injured totals.

[Judi Lynn]

5. First time I've heard it. This is pure evil. My God.

So it's like they never existed, basically, as far as the administration goes.

Holding out the promises of school help, citizenship to lure them in is unspeakable.

This makes _Bush's departure from typical right-wingnut "Minuteman" hatred of immigration easier to understand when you realize he's seeing all the young immigrants as potential cannon fodder he doesn't have to count.

[LiberalFighter]

10. How many Latinos/Hispanics know about this??

Especially those that are citizens and can vote.

[meganmonkey]

11. I don't think that's true

I checked ICCC and the soldier listed above is on the list...

U.S. Marine Lance Corporal Jesus Alberto Suarez del Solar
Age: 20
From: Escondido, California
Assigned To: 1st Lt. Armored Recon, 1st Marine Div.
Based In: Camp Pendleton, CA
Fatality Date: Thursday, March 27, 2003
Fatality Cause: Hostile - friendly fire - cluster bomblet
Fatality Location: Baghdad, Iraq

http://icasualties.org/oif/Details.aspx

Search by name

Do you have a link saying they don't get counted?

[MADem]

13. That is not true

They are listed by home of record, which is a US address if they are residents, which usually correlates to their place of enlistment.

This shit is bad enough as it stands, no need to perpetuate misconceptions.

[Neshanic]

7. The young republican cowards who will not serve for their leader...

have the best of both worlds. Endless supply of Latinos to take their place while they busy themselves getting ringside seats for the new coming wars, and then scapegoats for them to blame "the illegals."

Just blue skying here...seems to me we could skip a step and take away right of republicans until they serve. No problem with the numbers then.

[Barkley]

9. I met Fernando in Arlington West (in Santa Monica, CA.)

Earlier this year. He was there collecting donations to for medical aid for the children of Iraq.

A very brave and dedicated man.

[FlemingsGhost]

14. But .... but ... but ... Jorge is your amigo. He even speaks Spanish!

Pipe down, and vote GOP.

[MADem]

16. He speaks Spanish slightly better than I speak Klingon!

Now Jeb actually DOES speak Spanish...very good Spanish, in fact. He is pretty fluent. It's what happens when you marry a woman who does not speak English!

Chump, on the other hand, can order a beer and a taco, find the bathroom, and tell a hooker to get lost in Spanish, but his ability is low-conversational, at best. He probably picked it up watching Zorro reruns as a kid, and going over the border in his dangerous youth.

[FlemingsGhost]

18. Can you imagine, manually detonating a cluster bomb?

Oh, man ...

[DS1]

20. There is no fast-track, it's a lie

[Sean Reynolds]

22. Good.