Report Claims Immigrants Good For The Military

Essential to the Fight:
Immigrants in the Military, Eight Years After 9/11

Washington D.C. - In time for Veterans Day, the Immigration Policy Center (IPC) is releasing a report entitled Essential to the Fight: Immigrants in the Military, Eight Years After 9/11. The author, Lieutenant Colonel Margaret Stock, is an attorney and Associate Professor at West Point. The report highlights the critical role immigrants are playing in today's military, noting "Without the contributions of immigrants, the military could not meet its recruiting goals and could not fill its need for foreign-language translators, interpreters and cultural experts."

From the report:

"Immigrants have been eligible to enlist in the U.S. military since the Revolutionary War and have served in times of war with great distinction. Many have won the Congressional Medal of Honor, this nation's highest military decoration. It has long been an American tradition that service in the armed forces can lead to U.S. citizenship.

As of June 30, 2009, there were 114,601 foreign-born individuals serving in the armed forces, representing 7.91 percent of the 1.4 million military personnel on active duty.
In Fiscal Year (FY) 2009 alone, 10,505 members of the military were naturalized. Naturalizations of immigrants in the military are at their highest during times of war. "

To view the report in it entirety see:

Essential to the Fight: Immigrants in the Military, Eight Years After 9/11 (IPC Special Report, )

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The Immigration Policy Center (IPC), established in 2003, is the policy arm of the American Immigration Council. IPC's mission is to shape a rational national conversation on immigration and immigrant integration. Through its research and analysis, IPC provides policymakers, the media, and the general public with accurate information about the role of immigrants and immigration policy on U.S. society. IPC reports and materials are widely disseminated and relied upon by press and policy makers. IPC staff regularly serves as experts to leaders on Capitol Hill, opinion-makers and the media. IPC is a non-partisan organization that neither supports nor opposes any political party or candidate for office.

A division of the American Immigration Council.

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