Non-citizen servicemen who break law face deportation
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SAN FRANCISCO -- When Rohan Coombs joined the U.S. Marine Corps, he never thought he would one day be locked up in an immigration detention center and facing deportation from the nation he had vowed to defend.
Mr. Coombs, 43, born in Jamaica, immigrated to the United States legally as a child with his family. He signed up to serve his adopted nation for six years, first in Japan and the Philippines, then in the Persian Gulf during the first war with Iraq.
As many as 8,000 non-citizens enlist in the U.S. Armed Forces every year and serve alongside U.S. troops. As of May 2010, there were 16,966 non-citizens on active duty. The military does not allow illegal immigrants to enlist.
If non-citizens die while serving, they are given citizenship and a military funeral. If they live and get in trouble with the law, as Mr. Coombs did, they can get caught in the net of a 1996 immigration law that greatly expanded the list of crimes for which non-citizens can be deported.
"As far as I was concerned, I was a citizen," said Mr. Coombs, whose soft-spoken, introspective nature contrast with his physical presence. Mr. Coombs stands 6 feet 5 and weighs more than 260 pounds -- a gentle giant, according to his fiancee, Robyn Sword.
Now, advocates of non-citizen servicemen and women are trying to change that. Attorneys are taking cases like Mr. Coombs' to court, arguing that an immigrant who serves in the Armed Forces should be considered a U.S. national and protected from deportation.
"These are people who served us -- whether they are model human beings or not," said Mr. Coombs' attorney, Craig Shagin of Harrisburg, Pa.
Rep. Bob Filner, D-Calif., chairman of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, is looking into potential changes to the law, so that immigrants who serve in the military can avoid deportation. "You come back from Iraq or Afghanistan today, you have put yourself on the line for this country," he said. "An incredible number of kids come back with an injury or illness that puts them in trouble with the law. To simply have these people deported is not a good way to thank them for their service."
First Published October 25, 2010 12:00 am
