On Dec. 18, 2011, the United States pulled its troops out of Iraq, ending an eight-year war in which immigrant soldiers made remarkable contributions to the American cause.
During the peak of the war, more than 30,000 non-citizens were serving in the U.S. military, accounting for close to 2% of the total 1.4 million active duty service members.
By the end of the Iraq war, the government had given more than 120 immigrant military members posthumous citizenship after they lost their lives during combat in Afghanistan and Iraq.
After 9/11, President George W. Bush signed an executive order that allowed for expedited citizenship for non-citizen, legal U.S. residents who enlisted in the military. Section 329 of the Immigration & Nationality Act gives the president the authority to allow non-citizen service members a fast track to citizenship during periods when the nation is engaged in armed conflict.
The change brought tens of thousands of so-called “green-card soldiers” into the U.S. armed forces.
Many of them took advantage of the opportunity to become American citizens. From 9/11 until the end of the Iraq war, about 75,000 foreigners in the military became U.S. citizens.
Most of them served in Iraq and took their citizenship oaths in the United States. About 3,500 were naturalized while serving in Iraq and another 1,000 in Afghanistan, according to United States Citizenship and Immigration Services.
At the height of the war, the U.S. military had about 115,000 foreign-born service members, or about 7.9% of the total military. About 80% of them were naturalized citizens.
Foreigners have served in the U.S. military since the Revolutionary War, distinguishing themselves on battlefields from Gettysburg, to Normandy, to Vietnam, to Baghdad. Roughly a third of the non-citizens in the armed forces today are from Latin America and the Caribbean. Many others are from Canada, China, Vietnam, India, Nigeria, Turkey and Korea.
During the Iraq war, about 4% of the Navy’s total personnel were non-citizens. The Marine Corps had about 3.5%, the Army about 1% and the Air Force .8%.
In 2004, USCIS conducted the first overseas military naturalization ceremony since the Korean War. Since then, USCIS has naturalized more than 4,400 Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, Air Force and Coast Guard personnel in all-military ceremonies overseas.
On May 1, 2009, President Obama and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano presided over a naturalization ceremony in the East Room of the White Houseduring which two dozen immigrants in the military became citizens.
“You all remind us that citizenship is not just a collection of rights, it's also a set of responsibilities; that America's success is not a gift, it is hard-won,” President Obama said. “It depends on each of us doing our part.”
On Feb. 22, 2011, Presidents’ Day and George Washington’s Birthday, 53 U.S. soldiers became citizens during a ceremony at Camp Victory, Iraq, on the outskirts of Baghdad. Robert Daum, director of the USCIS field office in Rome, led the ceremony.
“For over 200 years, our presidents’ words and deeds have inspired Americans to uphold the ideals of freedom and equality enshrined in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution,” Daum told the newly minted Americans. “Your presence here in Iraq is an inspiration and testimony to our nation’s history, and your contributions will help shape our country for future generations.”
Generally speaking, U.S. law holds that both legal and undocumented immigrants have the same obligation to defend the United States as a U.S. citizen. More than 20% of the recipients of the Medal of Honor in U.S. wars have been immigrants, a total of 716 of the 3,406 Medal of Honor recipients have been immigrants.
Some 500,000 immigrants fought in the Union Army during the Civil War.
A special regimental combat team made up of the sons of Japanese immigrants was the most decorated of its size during World War II.
Immigrants developed major U.S. weapons, such as a more advanced ironclad ship, the submarine, the helicopter and the atomic and hydrogen bombs.
After the passage of Section 329 of the Immigration and Nationality Act in 1952, 143,000 non- citizen military participants in World Wars I and II, and 31,000 members of the U.S. military who fought during the Korean War, became citizens.
