Exclusive: Amnesty for Military Members' Illegal Relatives Full of Loopholes

A new report from the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) provided to Breitbart News exclusively ahead of its public release shows that President Barack Obama’s new amnesty for illegal aliens related to members of the U.S. military is a system full of loopholes.

On Nov. 15, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) released a new memo detailing a new policy through which the Obama administration planned to exempt a new category of illegal aliens from deportation and other forms of enforcement of immigration law.

CIS’s John Feere, in his report on the topic, detailed what the administration tried to make it appear as though it was doing. Feere wrote that the Obama administration argued it would be “granting legal status to illegal alien children, spouses, and parents of servicemembers because ‘there is concern within the DoD’ that some servicemembers ‘face stress and anxiety because of the immigration status of their family members in the United States.’ USCIS explains that ‘military preparedness can potentially be adversely affected’ if servicemembers “worry about the immigration status of their spouses, parents and children.”

Feere wrote that on its face, a policy like this “seems at least somewhat reasonable considering the sacrifice our service members are making for the country,” but that “upon closer inspection, it is clear that the Obama administration’s policy is not only about the arguably justifiable effort of reducing the stress of men and women serving on the battlefield.”

First off, Feere noted, the policy would apply to illegal aliens who are family members of retired servicemembers as well. “First, while reducing the stress of active duty servicemembers may be reasonable, this policy will also benefit illegal aliens related to retired servicemembers who are no longer serving,” Feere wrote. “It is difficult to see how this fits into the narrative about stress, anxiety, and military preparedness.”

In communications he had with USCIS about the agency’s new policy, Feere noted that it confirmed illegal aliens who were family members of now-deceased members of the U.S. military. “Again, the arguments about stress, anxiety, and military preparedness are difficult to apply in this situation,” he wrote about that admission from the agency.

Similarly, the policy would apply to illegal alien family members of former members of the military who have been dishonorably discharged. “Finally, USCIS also is not prepared to deny an illegal alien amnesty even if the servicemember was discharged from the military under problematic circumstances,” Feere wrote. “It does not appear that a servicemember’s dishonorable discharge for security reasons, violence, sexual assaults, or imprisonment, for example, would prevent USCIS from granting legal status to illegal aliens related to the servicemember. This is particularly odd in that the government generally denies all veteran benefits to servicemembers who are discharged for problematic reasons.”

Feere noted that the nine-page memo from USCIS does not address the issues of dishonorable discharges, and quoted a USCIS Field Operations Directorate staffer as telling him that “we really don’t know if it matters or not” whether a military member to be honorably discharged for their illegal alien family members to qualify for Obama’s new administrative amnesty.

Feere argues that given these loose conditions for legal status, which differ from the administration’s stated goal of making it appear as though it is helping members of the military, are a sign the Obama administration is simply politically motivated and looking for as many ways as possible to keep illegal aliens in the country by granting them legal status.

“The Obama administration has yet to explain its justification for amnestying illegal aliens under these conditions,” Feere wrote. “There are likely many service members who have stressful family situations that are not on the president’s radar. It is difficult not to conclude that the administration’s real motive behind the new policy is to expand the president’s amnesty agenda.”