By Ed Diokno
Views from the Edge
Panshu Zhao loved everything about America. He studied about American-style democracy and immersed himself in American culture. He even read the Bible.
So when he was offered a student visa to study at Texas A&M university, he jumped at the opportunity.
And while studying for his Ph.D in Texas, Zhao enlisted in the U.S. Army in 2016 because the military needed recruits who could speak Mandarin. As an incentive, a special program created a path towards citizenship for legal immigrants who enlisted — the Military Accessions Vital to National Interest (MAVNI) program was launched in 2008 under then-President George W. Bush.
Zhao thought he was going to realize his dream and become an American citizen.
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Then in November 2016, Donald Trump was elected president.
Now, Zhao is just one of the dozens of immigrant recruits and reservists who have been victimized by Trump’s anti-immigrant policies.
At least 40 enlisted through the MAVNI program have been thrown out of the service, or been given reason to doubt the safety of their military status in recent days, according to reports by the Associated Press.
Many have been given no reason for their discharge, while others have been told that “personal links to relatives living abroad led them to be labeled as security risks,” the Huffington Post reports.
MAVNI has recruited tens of thousands of immigrants with special medical or language skills to fill numerous positions the military was unable to fill with U.S.-born recruits.
More than 10,000 recruits have served in the military through the MANVI program, but since the Trump administration came into office the number of enlistees through the program dropped to zero, according to the Military Times.
Most of MAVNI recruits come from Africa, Southwest Asia, China, India and Eastern Europe. Besides serving as translators, some of the recruits are mililtary physicians.
Since October 2016, stricter security checks have extended the vetting process by months. Additional background checks were reinforced by Secretary Jim Mattis in an October 2017 memo effectively freezing the program and leaving in limbo the approximately 1000 recruits who joined in 2016.
This is because basic combat training needs to be completed within three years of signing up for MAVNI.
“Some of the service members say they were not told why they were being discharged. Others who pressed for answers said the Army informed them they’d been labeled as security risks because they have relatives abroad or because the Defense Department had not completed background checks on them,” according to the AP.
In a statement, the Department of Defense said: “All service members (i.e. contracted recruits, active duty, Guard and Reserve) and those with an honorable discharge are protected from deportation.”
Immigration attorneys, however, told the Associated Press that many of the recent discharges were classified as “uncharacterized,” neither dishonorable nor honorable, leaving their immigration status to debate.
MAVNI recruit and Massachusetts resident Lucas Calixto, who immigrated from Brazil, recently filed a lawsuit against the Department of Defense.
Calixto signed an eight-year enlistment contract in February 2016. In March 2017, the lawsuit says, he submitted an application for naturalization. On June 13, however, he was abruptly discharged without reason given.
“It was my dream to serve in the military,” Calixto told the Associated Press. “Since this country has been so good to me, I thought it was the least I could do to give back to my adopted country and serve in the United States military.”
Margaret Stock, Former Army lieutenant colonel who was instrumental in planning and initiating the MAVNI program, likes to point out that immigrants have been part of the U.S. military and taken part in every conflict starting with the Revolutionary War.
“There’s an epic bureaucratic fight going on,” Stock told wearethemighty.com.
“It’s an appalling example of bureaucratic incompetence,” she said of the efforts to kill the MAVNI program and subject those who have already signed up to endless screening.
“They’re saying the MAVNIs are some kind of security threat,” Stock told Military.com. “[But] there is no specific threat,” she said, that would justify strictures to kill a program that has proven its worth.
“They pose the same threat that U.S. citizens would,” said Stock. “We need these people … What we don’t need is people sitting on a base for 18 months doing nothing because of background checks.”
Meanwhile, Zhao’s American dream has become a nightmare as he rethinks his future.
“It’s just like you’re dropped from heaven to hell,” Zhao told The Associated Press yesterday.”I need justice. This is America. This is not China. This is not the Middle East. This is not a dictatorship. And that’s why I love America.”
Zhao continued his rant on Instagram: “I’m not a national threat,” Zhao posted. “On the contrast, I’m a national merit because people like me with higher education and critical skills, we want to serve this great U.S. Army. I’m a good scientist no matter what.”
While waiting for his security clearance to go through, Zhao joined the gym. He was given an army uniform, and allowed to do some training with his unit, although he did not go through basic training.
Since his discharge, Zhao faces additional fears because of his activity, and his attempt to join the U.S. military, he is afraid of how he might be treated if he returns to China. He told NPR, “I’m pretty sure the Chinese government knows what I did, and that they know my name. So you know, I don’t know what will happen if I go back.
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