1 Center for American Progress | New Americans in Our Nation’s Military
New Americans in
Our Nation’s Military
A Proud Tradition and Hopeful Future
By Catherine N. Barry November 8, 2013
“We many thousands of past and present proud immigrants to this great country did
not have the choice of choosing our place of birth or choice of parents. We did have
the choice to be called immigrants by birth and Americans by choice. We were always
Americans in our hearts.”
— Aled Rascon, a native of Mexico, winner of the Congressional Medal of Honor,
and former director of the Selective Service
1
In the wake of the Senate’s passage of the Border Security, Economic Opportunity,
and Immigration Modernization Act, S. 744, in June by a bipartisan supermajority
of 68 to 32, the drumbeat for immigration reform has only increased.
2
Over the past
few weeks, House Democrats introduced a version of the Senate bill in H.R. 15, and a
growing chorus of bipartisan voices has pushed for reform that would put most of the
11.7 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States on a path to citi-
zenship. Nevertheless, the House has so far failed to bring any immigration bill to the
oor.
3
While much of the immigration debate in Congress has revolved around issues
of border security and even the economic contributions of immigrants, far less has been
discussed about the contributions that immigrants make in other areas, particularly
through their military service.
Immigrants and their children comprised half of the total U.S. population growth
between 1990 and 2010,
4
and one-quarter of all children under age 18 living in the United
States have at least one immigrant parent.
5
Immigrants and their children are increasingly
vital resources to military recruitment, serving as soldiers, marines, sailors, and airmen.
e active-duty military currently contains more than 65,000 immigrants—5 percent
of the force—and noncitizen immigrants account for 4 percent of all rst-term military
recruits.
6
Roughly 3 percent of all living U.S. veterans were born abroad, and 12 percent of
all living veterans are either immigrants or the children of immigrants.
7
