Should U.S. military veterans who never became citizens and were honorably discharged but are here illegally be deported?
That was the question that is being debated in the state capital this week as part of the discussion of a bill that would provide legal aid from taxpayers to help these undocumented veterans stay in the U.S and become citizens.
The question and this bill come at a time when the debate over illegal immigration has clearly heated up.
And while there always is strong support for those who serve in the U.S. military, some of these undocumented veterans who have been deported had committed a crime after getting out of the military and that’s what led to them being deported. Some of them served their time for the crime here in the U.S and were still deported.
U.S. Marine and former state assemblyman Nathan Fletcher has been a strong proponent of the bill and so has his wife, current state assembly member Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher.
They say the measure would help these undocumented and deported veterans reunite with their families and get health services and other benefits.
They say many deported veterans would have been eligible to become naturalized citizens but were not properly informed about the process.
It didn’t take long for the California Assembly to pass the bill and now it’s in the State Senate.
Given the track record of the state legislature on immigration issues, it will probably be okayed and then sent to Governor Brown for his signature.
But passage of the bill won’t end the debate over illegal immigration or how we treat military veterans.
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