4 pages and a lock.....
January 30, 2006
Noncitizen sues to join Corps
Illegal immigrant tried to sign up, avoid deportation
By Gayle S. Putrich
Times staff writer
If the Corps is always looking for willing recruits, especially in a time of war, why should a Texas man have to sue the Defense Department for the right to join the Marine Corps? Probably because he’s not a U.S. citizen.
Juan Humberto Cortes Hutrera entered the United States illegally from Mexico when he was 12 years old with his parents, who are also undocumented immigrants. Now, he wants to serve his “new country” as a Marine.
According to the lawsuit filed Oct. 31 with the U.S. District Court, Southern District of Texas, Cortes was ordered to appear in immigration court on June 24, 2004, to begin the deportation process. Cortes’ appeal of the 2004 deportation decision is pending.
It was more than a year after deportation proceedings began — in September 2005, three months after his graduation from Los Fresnos High School near Brownsville, Texas — when Cortes tried to join the Marines. While the lawsuit claims he met all the usual requirements and that recruiters wanted to enlist him, it was not possible due to Cortes’ immigration status.
Marlene Dougherty, Cortes’ lawyer in Brownsville, said it’s not her client’s fault he isn’t a citizen, and that as far as Cortes is concerned, he is an American who wants to serve his country.
“He didn’t break a law coming here. He was brought. He was a child. And now this is his home. He just wants to serve his country,” Dougherty said. She would not make him available for comment.
But the military looks at an applicant’s immigration status in a far more cut-and-dried manner than lawyers: If you don’t have legal immigration status, you can’t join the military, recruiters say.
The Marine Corps does not require a particularly long list of documents to enlist. A high school diploma or equivalent is necessary. So is proof of age, such as a birth certificate, and proof of U.S. citizenship. If a prospective Marine is not a citizen, recruiters explained, he must at least be in the process of becoming one and have either a green card or a valid I-551 form from Citizenship and Naturalization Services to prove it. There is no “work-around” for noncitizens.
Dougherty said recruiting regulations can be relaxed in times of war, and that an executive order from President Bush making that possible has already been signed. But Executive Order 13269, which is referenced in the lawsuit, only speeds up the naturalization process for “aliens and noncitizen nationals serving in an active-duty status” who have served for at least a year during a time of war or conflict. The order also sets Sept. 11, 2001, as the start date for a time of conflict. However, the law still requires that applicants for citizenship be a “lawful permanent resident,” something Cortes is not.
Dougherty said exceptions to recruiting requirements should be made only in times of conflict and on a case-by-case basis.
She believes her client should be one of those exceptions.
“We’re not looking to open the door to everybody,” said Dougherty, who said she also understands that physical requirements must be met and national security must be taken into consideration.
“Hopefully we can reach an agreement and get him enlisted,” she said. “That’s all he wants.”