Well we posted about this furor last night and registered our skepticism and it turns out we were RIGHT to be skeptical.
The U.S. Army says the report from the Associated Press is MISLEADING:
…a Defense Department spokesperson said an Associated Press report published on Thursday “mischaracterized” how the Pentagon has handled recruits whose applications were still pending when the pilot program was ended in September of 2017.
The AP report said some immigrant U.S. Army reservists and recruits who enlisted in the military with a promised path to citizenship were being “abruptly discharged,” with no notice or explanation.
The notification that they have not been accepted into the program is their notice,” said Maj. Carla M. Gleason, a Pentagon spokesperson. “There has been no change in policy.”
And…
What’s happening now is some potential recruits are being notified that they have been rejected based on the background checks or failure to meet some other qualification, such as having legal status in the U.S.
The Military Accessions Vital to the National Interest program, known as MAVNI, began in 2009 as an effort to bring non-U.S. citizens with special skills not found in sufficient numbers in the American citizenry into the military.
That included foreign nationals with language, medical or cultural skills.
TIME took the AP report and ran with it, of course:
So there, we were right to be skeptical.
J.R. Salzman had a good thread about this – you can start reading it here:
I read the article twice and I’m not seeing what everyone is outraged about. In order for a noncitizen to enlist, they have to go through thorough background checks. If something doesn’t check out, or they can’t be properly vetted, then they can’t serve. https://t.co/WQSTpmiiHu
— J.R. Salzman (@jrsalzman) July 6, 2018