This retired U.S. Army colonel has a good point. It should be easy to put veterans on the fast-track, but that is not the story. Citizenship should be automatic for people who served this country in the military. DP
Veterans have to wait too long to get their applications approved
By Jack Jacobs, Military analyst
msnbc.msn.com: The U.S. doesn't offer free health care, and the economy is coming closer and closer to a recession, yet still, the number of people applying for American citizenship is skyrocketing. Last year, it doubled. Despite our nation's problems, the message hasn't changed: If you want opportunity and freedom, come to America.
The enormous administrative burden of processing so many more citizenship applications has slowed the process, never particularly speedy, almost to a halt. But for one group, the interminable wait is particularly difficult: veterans.
Throughout the history of the U.S., immigrants have served in the armed forces, often in disproportionately larger numbers than their percentage of the general population. During the Civil War, entire regiments were composed of recently-arrived foreigners, mostly Germans and Irish. And in the World War II, the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, composed almost completely of Japanese-Americans who had been classified as enemy aliens, taken from their homes and interned in camps, became the Army’s most highly decorated unit.
The current indignity is partly the result of a mindless bureaucracy unable to operate with an increased workload. For example, conducting a background check of each applicant ought to be fairly quick, given the nature of technology and automation, but it doesn’t. Personnel files, fingerprint information and other data ought to be shared among federal agencies, particularly those involved in the citizenship process, but they aren’t.
Be sure to read the rest of this story! This is only a small part of it.
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