Cesar Vargas in Army JAG after struggle to enlist
Cesar Vargas is a DACA holder who was seeking authorization for enlistment during the Obama administration under the MAVNI program. Doing so would provide him a pathway to citizenship. Although the law permitted his enlistment at tht time, the Pentagon under Jeh Johnson denied him enlistment because they felt Spanish language skills — unlike other languages — were not deemed critical to the military. The memo permitted some DACAs who speak Haitian Creole and Korean to enlist.
Vargas went on to obtain a green card and naturalization by other means.
The US government recruited about 600 DACAs, a fraction of those would might have enlisted.
MHC (h/t Margaret Stock)
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