Injustice to Veterans

[waltky]

Say what??...

Army Veteran Who Faces Deportation Denied US Citizenship
16 Mar 2018 - The decision Thursday by immigration officials means Miguel Perez Jr. can be deported to Mexico at any time.

An Army veteran with a green card who faces deportation because of a 2008 drug conviction has been denied U.S. citizenship. The decision Thursday by immigration officials means Miguel Perez Jr. can be deported to Mexico at any time.

A photo of Miguel Perez Jr. when he was in the Army.​

The 39-year-old Perez petitioned immigration officials to be granted citizenship retroactive to when he joined the military in 2001. Perez served two tours in Afghanistan. He says he mistakenly thought he became a U.S. citizen when he took an oath to protect the nation.

Perez was taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers after he served half of a 15-year prison sentence for a nonviolent drug charge. He is being held in a Wisconsin detention center where he awaits deportation.

Army Veteran Who Faces Deportation Denied US Citizenship

See also:

Vietnam Veteran Inaccurately Declared Dead
16 Mar 2018 - A Fayetteville veteran who was erroneously declared dead has been resurrected by the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Charles Covell, a Vietnam veteran and retired U.S. Postal Service worker, told The Fayetteville Observer last week that he was surprised to learn of his death in late February. Covell's wife, Marcie, first realized something was wrong when a monthly disability payment from the VA was not deposited into the couple's bank account. They later learned that someone filed a death certificate for Charles Covell in January. On Tuesday, a spokeswoman from U.S. Rep. Richard Hudson's office said the VA had notified them that the mistake had been corrected and that the disability payment that had previously been held was released to the veteran.

Covell, 81, spent a combined 12 years in the Army and served with the 82nd Airborne Division and 5th Special Forces Group at Fort Bragg. He was one of hundreds of veterans each year who have had their VA benefits erroneously suspended. Many of the mistakes are caused by information reported by the Social Security Administration, according to a VA spokesman. The VA works with that agency to prevent overpayment by matching death records to a VA database.

Between October 2016 and September 2017, the VA suspended benefits for 105,529 beneficiaries who were identified as having died, according to the VA. Of those, 245 beneficiaries were later found to have been erroneously included among the suspensions. "That equates to a 99.77 percent accuracy rate," the VA spokesman said. "While the error rates are small, they are still unacceptable, and VA has taken steps to improve our processes." Covell's "death" wasn't the first time he has fallen victim to a paperwork mistake.

More than 50 years earlier, Covell survived a Viet Cong ambush in Vietnam and was honored for heroics during the battle. But he had to wait more than four decades to receive the medal after the original paperwork was lost. He received the Bronze Star Medal for Valor in 2006, recognizing heroics that took place in 1965. Covell's "death" occurred when the VA confused him with the late Charles Covell from New York. The Rev. Charles R. Covell died in September 2011, according to an obituary published in the Observer-Dispatch, a newspaper based in Utica, New York. Aside from a name, the two men had other things in common. The Rev. Covell was also a paratrooper, serving in the Korean War with the Army's 11th Airborne Division.

Vietnam Veteran Inaccurately Declared Dead

 

[shockedcanadian]

If someone serves in the U.S military, they should be offered citizenship in my opinion. Anyone willing to die for their country, for the most part has to share their values and love their nation, even if they are imperfect.

 

[Pogo]

Say what??...

Army Veteran Who Faces Deportation Denied US Citizenship
16 Mar 2018 - The decision Thursday by immigration officials means Miguel Perez Jr. can be deported to Mexico at any time.

An Army veteran with a green card who faces deportation because of a 2008 drug conviction has been denied U.S. citizenship. The decision Thursday by immigration officials means Miguel Perez Jr. can be deported to Mexico at any time.

A photo of Miguel Perez Jr. when he was in the Army.​

The 39-year-old Perez petitioned immigration officials to be granted citizenship retroactive to when he joined the military in 2001. Perez served two tours in Afghanistan. He says he mistakenly thought he became a U.S. citizen when he took an oath to protect the nation.

Perez was taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers after he served half of a 15-year prison sentence for a nonviolent drug charge. He is being held in a Wisconsin detention center where he awaits deportation.

Army Veteran Who Faces Deportation Denied US Citizenship

According to a source article linked in the above one, he was put in solitary confinement and was entering the fourth week of a hunger strike when that story was published, two and a half weeks ago. Still no explanation of what "drug conviction" refers to other than the characterization as "nonviolent".

Hard to believe.

 

[whitehall]

A drug conviction can net anywhere from a year to 20 years in the slammer. In this case details of the drug conviction might be intentionally obscured to make a political point.

 

[Mushroom]

If someone serves in the U.S military, they should be offered citizenship in my opinion. Anyone willing to die for their country, for the most part has to share their values and love their nation, even if they are imperfect.

It is offered to them. In fact, the process to become a citizen is greatly streamlined, and almost all fees are waived for them.

But they have to want to become a citizen, and make the effort to become one.

He never bothered to become a citizen, therefore he is now to be treated like any other resident alien. This would not have been an issue, if he had bothered to become a citizen, or not broken the law.

Sorry, no pity at all from me. He made his choices, now he gets to live with them.