News & Commentary
ACLU-SDIC Public Comment – City of San Diego Risk Management Presents on Settlements & Judgments Against SDPD
By Branden Sigua
ACLU-SDIC Public Testimony – San Diego City Council Resolution in Support of Somali Community
By Samantha Itazawa
ACLU-SDIC Public Testimony – Support for Pride Month Resolution at Central Union High School District Board Meeting
By Daniela Vega
ACLU-SDIC Public Comment – City of San Diego Holds Hearing on Approval of FY27 Budget
By Branden Sigua
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Court Rules ACLU Lawsuit Against CIA Torture Psychologists Can Proceed
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Deported Veterans: Banished from Their Own Country
"They raised their right hands and swore to defend the Constitution," Stock told the Los Angeles Times. "They thought that made them citizens."
Other veterans say that they in fact filed their naturalization paperwork while they were in the military, but the federal government lost the paperwork or never responded. Still others say that the military could have helped them naturalize during basic training, but failed to do so. The Pentagon reports that since 2009, about 9,800 men and women have earned their citizenship during basic military training. More than 89,000 people have received citizenship through military service since 9/11.
It is important to note that naturalization after deployment has long been a benefit provided to servicemen. As early as the Civil War, immigrants have played a pivotal role in the U.S. military. One in six troopers in George Custer’s 7th Cavalry at the Battle of the Little Big Horn was an Irish immigrant. The promise of U.S. citizenship after military service has been a long-standing practice that provided immigrants with a highly valued avenue to naturalization. The history of military service in America would be significantly different without the inclusion of immigrants and the promise of citizenship that followed.
In recent years, as veterans return from Iraq and Afghanistan, they find adjusting to civilian life to be difficult. Many of them struggle with PTSD and substance abuse as they work to regain a sense of the lives they led before suffering the trauma of war.
The ACLU of California is partnering with Deported Veterans Support House, a shelter and resource center for deported veterans based in Tijuana, Mexico, on a project to end the unjust deportati
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