Non-Citizen Veterans Face Deportation for Post-Service Infractions | …

Service in the U.S. military can be a speedier route for people hoping to get citizenship, but it’s not a guarantee. Non-citizen veterans are subject to deportation for crimes committed after the military service, and application of those rules can be inconsistent across states. Reports indicate that at least hundreds of veterans have been deported, but no full accounting has ever been done.

Carlos Luna founded the organization Green Card Veterans in 2017 to help address what he sees as unequal treatment for veterans.

“We decided that the story of a veteran who had been deported from Chicago was an injustice that needed a veteran perspective to help address that issue,” Luna said. “So we mobilized, we organized and we started fighting this national fight from here in Chicago. It is a group of veterans and veteran family members who volunteer under the Green Card Veterans umbrella to address not just the deportation of veterans as a whole, but the different phenomena that…