Brooks, Brat Denounce Amendment to Allow Illegal Immigrants to Serve in Military

The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) should not be used as a vehicle to pursue allowing illegal immigrants to serve in the U.S. military, according Reps. Mo Brooks (R-AL) and Dave Brat (R-VA).

In a statement Monday, Brat and Brooks announced their intention to remove language added as an amendment to the NDAA — which passed out of committee last week — that would encourage the Secretary of Defense to consider allowing illegal immigrants granted executive amnesty via the Obama administration’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program to serve in the military.

Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) offered the amendment, which passed and was attached to the NDAA on a vote of 33-30.

According to Brat and Brooks, the amendment puts illegal immigrants’ interests ahead of American citizens.

“It is unconscionable that certain members of Congress seek to use America’s military as a bargaining chip in a bid to cement the president’s unconstitutional amnesty actions – adding the amendment to the ‘must pass’ National Defense Authorization Act, a bill that is intended to authorize essential programs for our military. We can’t speak for other Congressmen, but, as for ourselves, we were elected to promote and protect the interests of American citizens, not illegal immigrants,” they said in a joint statement.

Brooks and Brat continued, arguing that the amendment would serve to endorse “a cycle of perpetual amnesty for illegal immigrants and betraying struggling young Americans who wish to serve in America’s armed forces.”

They concluded, stressing that they “are working to remove this language from the NDAA, and we urge our House leaders to support our efforts.”

Read their full statement:

“With passage of this amendment, a majority on the Armed Services Committee urged the Secretary of Defense to hire DACA illegal immigrants, rather than American citizens, at the same time the Pentagon is in the process of laying off tens of thousands of American troops.  According to Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno, the active Army will be cut by and/or lay off more than 80,000 uniformed personnel by the end of fiscal year 2017.  Further, competition for enlistment is so challenging that American high-school graduates now face, ‘more difficulty qualifying for the armed services than ever in the 40-year history of the all-volunteer force.’

“Do members of the House Armed Services Committee who voted for this amendment really believe that these are jobs Americans won’t do?  It is unconscionable that certain members of Congress seek to use America’s military as a bargaining chip in a bid to cement the president’s unconstitutional amnesty actions – adding the amendment to the  ‘must pass’ National Defense Authorization Act, a bill that is intended to authorize essential programs for our military.  We can’t speak for other Congressmen, but, as for ourselves, we were elected to promote and protect the interests of American citizens, not illegal immigrants.

“Moreover, given the crisis at our nation’s border where tens of thousands of children are pouring into our country illegally, it is mindboggling that Congress would consider a policy that encourages even more illegal immigrants to unlawfully cross America’s borders.

“Former leaders of the U.S. military wrote last year, ‘[Such a policy] would enable adoption by the Congress of measures that would confer amnesty on millions of immigrants illegally in this country and, by failing to secure the borders, ensure that millions more will be headed here in due course.’

“By voting to encourage DACA illegal immigrants to enlist in the military, members of Congress are both endorsing a cycle of perpetual amnesty for illegal immigrants and betraying struggling young Americans who wish to serve in America’s armed forces.

“Congress serves as a body to check and balance the powers of the executive branch in accordance with the Constitution, not to aid the White House in violating the Constitution.  Doing so with a national defense bill is especially troubling.  We are working to remove this language from the NDAA, and we urge our House leaders to support our efforts.”