Washington: A class action lawsuit has been filed by six American troops on April 24 alleging the Pentagon is blocking their ability to use an expedited process to become naturalised US citizens.
The lawsuit, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on behalf of the troops, alleges a 2017 Pentagon policy has “unlawfully obstructed the ability of thousands of service members to obtain US citizenship, placing them in a state of personal and professional limbo.”
Non-citizens who serve in the military are eligible for expedited citizenship under the 1952 Immigration and Nationality Act. In order to qualify for the expedited process, troops must get a certification from the Pentagon that they have served honorably.
Troops used to be able to get that certification a day after starting service. But in 2017, the Pentagon changed the process, including requiring additional background screenings, limiting who can approve the certifications to the service secretaries or high-ranked officers and requiring active-duty troops to have served for at least 180 days and members of the Selected Reserve for at least a year.
The Pentagon cited national security concerns for the additional steps, saying when the policy was announced that while it “recognises the value of expedited US citizenship achieved through military service, it is in the national interest to ensure all current and prospective service members complete security and suitability screening prior to naturalisation.”
“The DoD’s subversion of the statutory scheme is so significant that it is now harder for many service members to naturalise through the expedited process than through the ordinary civilian process,” says the lawsuit, filed in US District Court for the District of Columbia.
The lawsuit says that United States Citizenship and Immigration Services statistics showed a 72 per cent drop in military naturalisation applications in 2018 compared to before the new policy.
