A bipartisan bill from U.S. Rep. Jeff Denham (R-CA) that would permit qualified undocumented immigrants known as Dreamers to earn status as American citizens by enlistment in the U.S. Armed Forces has garnered enough cosponsors to gain approval by the U.S. House of Representatives.
The Encourage New Legalized Immigrants to Start Training (ENLIST) Act, H.R. 60, which Rep. Denham introduced on Jan. 3, 2017, has 218 cosponsors, representing a House majority and sufficient for the bill to pass that body of Congress, the congressman’s office said.
“This is a milestone achievement for ENLIST, and I thank all of my colleagues who have signed on to support this bill, which will allow Dreamers to fight for the only country they know and love and earn a pathway to American citizenship,” said Rep. Denham on Feb. 8, noting that a total of 101 Republicans and 117 Democrats support H.R. 60.
Among the bill’s 29 original cosponsors are U.S. Reps. Mark Amodei (R-NV), Carlos Curbelo (R-FL), Darrell Issa (R-CA), Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) and Fred Upton (R-MI). Democrats who signed on as original cosponsors to H.R. 60 included U.S. Reps. Jim Costa, Eric Swalwell and Jerry McNerney of California, Henry Cuellar of Texas, and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona.
The bill would offer an avenue to legal immigration status for individuals known as Dreamers who are in the country under the protection of the Obama administration’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy, according to Denham’s office.
Former president Barack Obama in 2012 used an executive order to create the DACA program, which enabled persons who entered the United States illegally as minors brought by their parents and who had lived in the country continuously since June 15, 2007, to receive renewable two-year deferred action from deportation. Protection was limited to those currently in school or who have graduated or been honorably discharged members of the U.S. military.
The Trump administration rescinded the DACA program in September 2017 and its protections will expire next month.
If enacted, H.R. 60 would authorize Dreamers to enlist in the U.S. military if they are eligible apart from their immigration status, according to the bill’s text. Under the bill, Dreamer enlistees’ immigration status would be changed to give them permanent resident-alien status in the United States, however federal law would automatically rescind that status if the person left the Armed Forces by any other means than an honorable discharge.
“There is no greater act of patriotism than serving in our nation’s military. Immigrants have been doing this throughout the history of our nation,” Denham said. “It’s time we move this bill forward.”
H.R. 60 is pending before the House Armed Services Committee.