Labor & Employment Law

DREAM Act Would Boost Military Recruitment

By admin

AFL-CIO field staffer Will Fischer, a Marine Corps veteran, says a provision in the DREAM Act strengthens the nation?s military.

The U.S. Senate will soon have the opportunity to take a strong step toward fixing our broken immigration system and strengthening our military. The DREAM Act, a proposed amendment to the defense authorization bill (S. 3454) due to come before the Senate on Tuesday, would open the door to military service and higher education for young people whose parents brought them to this country as children without proper documentation. If they finish high school, show good moral character and serve at least two years in the military or earn a college degree, the bill would allow them to earn U.S. citizenship.

Today, the status of undocumented students prevents them from fully contributing to the American workforce and to the economy. It means students who dream of joining the armed forces, can?t. It means students who dream of becoming a doctor, an engineer, a teacher, can?t. Instead these promising young people find themselves in limbo, unable to legally work, qualify for scholarships or loans to pay for college, or serve in the military. Stuck living in the shadows and condemned to the underground economy, these young people are easy prey to exploitation by unscrupulous employers who use their immigration status to depress the wages and workplace standards of all of us.

The status quo is hurting both America?s workers and America?s men and women in uniform, who are being denied the support of thousands of men and women who dream of serving our nation alongside them in the armed forces. The Defense Department understands this?passage of the DREAM Act is one of its official goals for helping to maintain a ?mission ready, all-volunteer force.?

For those reasons I, a union member and proud Marine Corps veteran of the Iraq war, strongly support the DREAM Act. What matters most both on the battlefield and in the workplace is not where you were born, but who you are and what you stand for. In my time in the Marines, I served alongside immigrants from El Salvador, Cuba, Ghana, Mexico, Nigeria and many other places. These brave men and women may have been born outside our nation?s borders, but their hearts were undeniably American. And this isn?t anything new; immigrants have a proud history in our nation?s military and they have shed their blood on her behalf many times over.

As we continue to defend our nation and our unions from those who seek to destroy us, we?d be wise to embrace those who want to stand with us and fight back beside us. That?s why I urge each of my union brothers and sisters to support the DREAM Act. Immigrants have always helped to make America strong, and we can?t afford to squander so much potential in the fights that lie ahead.

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on September 20, 2010 (boomark / email).