De La Cruz is one of a small number of deported veterans who have been allowed to return to the U.S. The Washington Post reported last year that there are more than 2,000 deported veterans still living abroad, but that’s just an estimate because U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement doesn’t have a policy to identify military veterans it encounters during deportation proceedings, according to a 2019 study by the Government Accountability Office.
The number of deported veterans applying for naturalization has dropped since 2017, and the number approved declined from 7,303 in fiscal year 2017 to 4,309 the following fiscal year, the report found.
For noncitizens, offenses ranging from entering the country illegally or overstaying a visa to being convicted of an aggravated felony or violating gun laws can lead to deportation. And veterans aren’t immune to deportation if they’re not U.S. citizens.
Texas lawmakers have for years tried unsuccessfully to pass legislation to help deported veterans. U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, D-McAllen, has twice introduced legislation to repatriate deported veterans, but the legislation died in both 2017 and 2019. U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-El Paso, has also raised the issue and publicly supported De La Cruz.
De La Cruz’s attorney, Jennie Pasquarella, said her client’s good fortune was made possible by a 2004 U.S. Supreme Court decision in a Florida case, Leocal v. Ashcroft, that took driving while intoxicated off the list of crimes that blocked deported immigrants from the chance at naturalization.
“That meant that because he served in wartime, which is a provision that allows for people to naturalize, he was allowed to naturalize,” said Pasquarella, a senior staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California who was introduced to De La Cruz in 2016 during an ACLU project aimed at helping deported veterans. Pasquarella stayed in touch with De La Cruz and agreed to represent him free of charge.
“There are people out there like Frank who are eligible for some relief and have avenues to come home, and our hope is that we can help everyone who is in that situation,” she said.
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5 comments:
Vets should be citizens! Let's be a bit more grateful!!!!
Does anyone know a Veteran that's not disabled? It seems like they are all disabled and they get monthly checks for life. Even the few that do work get partial disability.
All U.S.Veterans Should Be Awarded United Stated Citizenship!!!!
Please Frank come back to America and kill someone while driving drunk!!!
@9:04 You would think differently, if one of your family member gets killed by this drunk driver!!! Vet or no vet, let this idiota stay in México!
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