This year's iteration of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) has hit another snag as House Republicans are divided over whether or not immigrants should be allowed to volunteer to serve in the American armed forces.
House Republicans were previously divided over whether or not medical facilities for veterans should be fully funded on the books or partially funded off the books, but now they're not sure if immigrants should be able to put themselves in harm's way in our defense.
A group of 25 House Republicans is asking the powerful House Rules Committee to remove an amendment to the annual defense policy bill that could open the door to illegal immigrants serving in the military.
The group — led by Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) — wants the panel's chairman, Pete Sessions (R-Texas), to strike a provision by Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) that encourages the secretary of Defense to review allowing recipients of President Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program to serve in the armed forces.
The 25 House Republicans refer to immigrants serving in the military as a "threat to our national security" which seems to me like a wild, long stretch of even the most vivid imagination.
Unless you really believe that immigrants may, in fact, be members of ISIS who traveled here from a fictitious, non-existent camp on the other side of the border, there is no conceivable reason to be so wary of immigrants serving in the military.
Sadly, 25 is probably fewer than the total number of congressmen who actually believe that. Either way, they certainly don't have much confidence in the military's ability to properly evaluate volunteers.