The migant surge has its uses for certain elements in the U.S. - for Democrats, voters, for business interests, cheap labor; for NGOs, more federal funding, and for the U.S. military beset with a recruiting crisis, seeing all those single, military-aged young men stream over, they seem to be a gold mine.

We see scattered references to it all over. 

Here's a report from NPR interviewer Tom Bowman with a military recruiter:

BOWMAN: But even if you want to join the Army, you might not make the cut. A recent Pentagon study found less than one-quarter of America's youth would qualify for military service without a waiver because they're overweight, have criminal records or mental or physical health problems. So how are they trying to make up for those lost numbers? The Army is increasingly turning to those who recently arrived in the United States. The Army is also hiring more immigrant recruits like Sergeant 1st Class Nouella Lacson, whose family came from the Philippines. She's standing at a card table covered with brochures, lanyards and dog tags.

NOUELLA LACSON: Most of my applicants are immigrants 'cause I kind of relate to them, you know - a lot of them.

Recently arrived? Would that include the current border surge? Border surge was the news on Sept. 25. The rules of military recruitment of foreigners normally means green card holders only .. but according to this immigration attorney, there are exceptions:

Certain immigration benefits may be available to members of the U.S. armed forces and/or their immediate relatives. Unauthorized aliens may consider joining the military as a way to procuring status, but it is not a simple path.

Undocumented immigrants are generally barred from serving in the military, though occasionally (especially in times of military need) an undocumented person might be allowed to join the armed forces in spite of this rule.

Given the abuse of the asylum system permitted, where literally millions of people are allowed to apply for a program that was instituted to permit entry to people in exceptional specific conditions of government persecution, one can reasonably infer that the Milley- and post-Milley military would find all the exceptions and waivers for illegals that it would like to find.

Perhaps that explains the refusal of the Milley Pentagon during the last years of the Trump administration to guard the border, and to assist the Border Patrol since then only with paperwork. They see a recruiting pool.

The Christian Science Monitor also did a long piece on the growing prevalence of foreigners in the military, dated June 12:

Struggling to overcome recruiting shortfalls, the Army and the Air Force have bolstered their marketing to entice legal residents to enlist, putting out pamphlets, working social media, and broadening their outreach, particularly in inner cities. One key element is the use of recruiters with similar backgrounds to these potential recruits.

“It is one thing to hear about the military from locals here, but it is something else when it’s from your fellow brother, from the country you’re from,” said Ms. Bidari, who was contacted by Army Staff Sgt. Kalden Lama, the Dallas recruiter, on a Facebook group that helps Nepalese people in America connect with one another. “That brother was in the group and he was recruiting and he told me about the military.”

The military has had success in recruiting legal immigrants, particularly among those seeking a job, education benefits, and training as well as a quick route to becoming an American citizen. But they also require additional security screening and more help filling out forms, particularly those who are less proficient in English.

The original headline, which remains in its URL, but has since been changed, originally read that the military "prioritizes the recruitment of immigrants to combat shortfalls." One assumes the military must have pressured them to change it, maybe to avoid getting angry inquiries from Republican congressmembers.

This piece raises questions about how many of these people are getting security clearances that ordinary Americans don't get. There was this statement from a recruiter:

“We have to take exceptional measures to be able to thoroughly vet and go through the security clearance investigation,” he said, adding that in many cases the immigrants are not immediately put in jobs that require top secret clearance. 

Many cases? Why didn't he say all cases? What are foreigners from countries such as "Cameroon, Jamaica, Kenya, the Philippines, Russia, and South Africa" doing with U.S. top secret security clearances?

They have sworn no loyalty oath to this country, nor are they obliged to be loyal to this country. A few months ago, the U.S. Navy caught a couple of recruited Chinese-American spies within its ranks, at least one of whom had acccess to restricted sensitive information, and handed over to the Chicoms "U.S. naval exercise plans, operational orders and photos and videos of electrical systems at Navy facilities." His Chinese spymaster mockingly congratulated him on finally getting his U.S. citizenship.  

Prosecutors said Wei, who was born in China, was approached by a Chinese intelligence officer in February 2022 while he was applying to become a naturalized U.S. citizen, and admitted to the officer that he knew the arrangement could affect his application. Even so, at the officer's request, Wei provided photographs and videos of Navy ships, including the USS Essex, which can carry an array of helicopters, including the MV-22 Ospreys, according to an indictment unsealed Thursday.

The indictment alleges Wei included as many as 50 manuals containing technical and mechanical data about Navy ships as well as details about the number and training of Marines during an upcoming exercise.

Wei continued to send sensitive U.S. military information multiple times over the course of a year and even was congratulated by the Chinese officer once Wei became a U.S. citizen, Grossman said. He added that Wei "chose to turn his back on his newly adopted country" for greed.

What, again, was that guy doing in the military at all, and how many higher-ups in the wokester military waved him through without any of the patriotism niceties?

Now, one is tempted to be a little more sympathetic to illegal migrants who are willing to serve in the U.S. military, given its ardors, and can respect the laws the enable those who serve a faster path to citizenship as well as safety from deportation for their relatives, which is normally how these things are done. Those who serve sincerely deserve that much, they aren't the welfare chiselers or criminal element or political activists with the entitlement mentality that we see so often coming.across our border. 

But not all of them actually want to become U.S. citizens, according to this July 24 report from the indy publication The Conversation:

Service in the military means an expedited path to U.S. citizenship, and many assume that the desire to get U.S. citizenship is what pushes immigrants to enlist. I interviewed 72 noncitizens from 28 countries who enlisted in the U.S. military for my book, “Green Card Soldier: Between Model Immigrant and Security Threat.”

I learned that the fast track to citizenship is not as important in explaining immigrant enlistments as economic factors like poverty and debt, and cultural factors, such as valuing warrior masculinity and legitimization of war.

Which kind of leaves out the flag and patriotism. 

And it raises questions about what kind of military we are starting to see emerging these days -- a military full of foreigners with no particular loyalty to the U.S., willing to shoot at Americans if the orders from a Democrat dictatorship come down to that? It seems insane that the military would target those who owe no loyalty to the U.S. and may not even want to become U.S. citizens as their "priority" recruitment targets because Americans are supposedly so inadequate. Replacement theory, anyone? Yes, it's concerning that most young Americans can't get into the military even if they want to, owing to criminal records, obesity and other health conditions, (but apparently not drug-heavy transgenderism). But turning to foreigners, particularly those who have broken the law to enter our country raises the specter of developing a very different kind of military to the patriotism-infused one we know and expcet. Do these people die in wars for us, or do they frag their officers to avoid it? Do they heed the Constitution with its First Amendment or do they happily break it the way the FBI has done, putting themselves above the law to spy on and censor Americans? Do they maintain loyalty to the U.S. by keeping its secrets or do they hand them over any time an agent from the motherland crosses paths with them for extra cash?

Those are serious questions and given that this is the trend, they are bound to come up more in the future. Maybe it's time to insist on citizenship and evidence of loyalty or at least an intention to get that citizenship, with a deadline, for the growing numbers of foreign recruits to the military. Otherwise, it may become unrecognizable.

Image: Pixabay / Pixabay License