“Republicans keep paying lip service to the issue but they’re all talk and no action. This legislation should be a no brainer.”
Phil Tobar, spokesman for the Democratic National Committee, endorsing the ENLIST Act
“I’ve made it clear over the last several months that until the President gives us some reason, some confidence that we can trust him to implement an immigration reform bill, we have nothing to talk about.”
House Speaker John Boehner
The Pentagon is weighing allowing immigrants brought illegally to the country as youths to serve in the military, a unilateral step by the Obama administration as the Republican-led House declines to consider a broad immigration reform bill.
The announcement came Tuesday after House Speaker John Boehner defended his decision to rebuff a GOP congressman’s measure to achieve a similar goal.
The Pentagon consideration would apply to immigrants who arrived illegally as children but already have received work permits and relief from deportation under a program President Barack Obama announced two years ago, called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA. More than 500,000 immigrants have participated in the program.
The Defense Department “continues to examine the laws and policies that address the eligibility of noncitizens to serve in the military in order to determine if and how our programs could be applied to DACA recipients,” Pentagon spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Nate Christensen said in a statement.
With comprehensive overhaul legislation stuck in the GOP-led House 11 months after passage by the Senate, such a move by the Pentagon would be the latest example of the Obama administration taking incremental steps through executive action. Obama is coming under pressure to make broader moves as the likelihood grows that the House will not pass any immigration bill this year.
Tuesday’s developments provided further evidence of the slim chances of House action, as Boehner told reporters a national defense bill was not the place for a vote on California Rep. Jeff Denham’s ENLIST Act, offering citizenship to immigrants here illegally who serve in the military.
“We have supported it in the past but trying to do this on the national defense authorization bill seems to us be an inappropriate place to do it,” he said.
Boehner, who has repeatedly cited distrust of Obama as a reason for House reluctance to pass an immigration measure, said there had been discussions about allowing Denham a stand-alone vote on his bill, but no decision had been made.
Despite the opposition, Denham testified before the House Rules Committee several hours after Boehner spoke, asking lawmakers to allow his amendment to come to a vote.
“There is no better way to show your patriotism, your commitment, your sacrifice and the willingness to earn that citizenship than being able to serve in our military,” Denham said.
Denham’s bill would allow immigrants who were brought to this country on or before Dec. 31, 2011, and were younger than 15 years old to become legal, permanent residents — the first step toward citizenship — through honorable service in the military. It would apply to a broader group of people than those who have received deferred action from the Obama administration, but Denham told reporters he would welcome any move by the Pentagon on its own.
Denham’s bill was co-sponsored by 50 House members, Democrats and Republicans, but an outspoken minority was opposed. Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala., warned that “all hell will break loose” if Denham tried to promote the measure.
A spokesman for House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., made clear last week that the GOP leadership would block a vote on Denham’s bill. Cantor faces a primary opponent in June who has accused him of supporting amnesty.
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