Noncitizens in the U.S. Military: Navigating National Security Concerns and Recruitment Needs
By Muzaffar Chishti, Austin Rose, and Stephen Yale-Loehr
Noncitizens have a long history of serving in the U.S. military, and in many periods, the promise of expedited naturalization has been used to encourage them to do so. More than 760,000 noncitizens have enlisted and obtained U.S. citizenship over the past century, with peaks during the World Wars and a smaller uptick since September 11, 2001.
Yet in recent years, Congress and the Defense Department have raised vetting requirements and changed training and naturalization timelines for noncitizen recruits, citing national security concerns. Such concerns are nothing new, but past military policies have generally reflected the view that national security is better served by having a fully staffed and highly skilled fighting force than by keeping noncitizens out.
https://www.migrationpolicy.org/research/noncitizens-us-military-national-security-concerns-recruitment-needs
