The Long Way Home
An American Journey from Ellis Island to the Great War
David Laskin

Non-Citizen Soldiers

Saturday, January 30th, 2010

I can’t say that I devoted much time to the question of  citizenship and military service until I wrote a book about immigrants in the army.  My working assumption, to the extent I had one, was that only citizens could be soldiers and that soldiers had to be citizens.  It turns out that things were – and are – a little more complicated.

In the years immediately preceding World War I, when the wave of European immigration crested, becoming a citizen entailed a lengthy two-step process.  First you had to take out your “first papers,” renouncing the government of your country of origin and declaring your intention to transfer your allegiance to the government of the United States; then you had to reside in the U.S. for five years (and be able to prove it).  Only then did you qualify for citizenship.  That naturalization process was still in effect when the United States entered the Great War on April 6, 1917.  The reinstitution of a draft (for the first time since the Civil War) a few weeks later raised the immediate question of whether immigrants were subject to conscription.  The answer was yes: if they had taken out their first papers, they got drafted along with everyone else.  Eventually the War Department raised an army of some 4.7 million men, nearly 20% of whom had been born overseas.

Immigrant families, many of whom had come to America to spare their sons mandatory service in imperial armies, were stunned that a draft had followed them across the Atlantic.  Rumors began to circulate that foreign-born boys who enlisted would be granted citizenship at once.  Joe Chmielewski, a 20-year-old Polish-born coal miner in the hills of western Pennsylvania, believed the rumors and signed up at Columbus Barracks in Ohio on June 17, 1917.  Lots of other guys did the same, though they soon found out that all they had secured was a fast-track to the trenches.

That changed on May 9, 1918, when Congress enacted an amendment to the naturalization law that essentially allowed foreign-born soldiers on active duty to become citizens at once.  No more first papers; no more residency requirement.  If you were fighting for Uncle Sam, you were in.  It was a fitting and timely response to the demographic and political realities of the day.  Tens of thousands of foreign-born soldiers were shipping out to France that spring; bloody battles loomed – Catigny, the first major American engagement of the war, started on May 28; the costly push to take Belleau Wood would drag on for most of June.  From then until the Armistice was declared, American forces were involved in one high-casualty push after another – the Aisne-Marne offensive in July; St. Mihiel in the middle of September; the Meuse-Argonne from September 26 until the war ended on November 11, 1918.  Immigrant soldiers fought and died in these battles alongside their U.S.-born comrades.  Those who survived took advantage in substantial numbers of the streamlined naturalization process.  According to some sources, over 280,000 immigrant soldiers became citizens by virtue of their service in the war (others put the figure at 123,000).

There has been an interesting new twist on this naturalization process in the post September 11 era.  On July 3, 2002, President Bush granted the right of immediate naturalization to all foreign-born soldiers serving honorably at any time on or after September 11, 2001.  (The five-year residency requirement for civilians remained in effect.) Bush’s clear intent was to underscore the fact that from September 11 forward, the nation was in a permanent state of war.  Any military service is now deemed active duty during a period of hostilities – with no end in sight to the war.  The right of immediate citizenship also extends to those serving in the Selected Reserve of the Ready Reserve.

So, as things stand now, if you were born overseas and are currently fighting or have fought honorably in a war for the U.S. even for a single day, you’re in if you want to be.  Just two weeks ago, the Department of Homeland Security further streamlined this process by eliminating the requirement for foreign-born soldiers to file biographic information that had previously slowed down the naturalization process.   As the Immigration Prof Blog points out, this new DHS rule has the effect of “removing administrative redundancy and increasing efficiency for those who risk their lives for the nation’s security.”  DHS secretary Janet Napolitano notes that the newly streamlined process, which takes effect on February 18, “reflects our commitment to honoring those who come from all over the world to serve our country and become its newest citizens.”

If you are an alien in the military and want help with the naturalization process, go to the military section of the website of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.  To have naturalization forms mailed to you, call toll-free800-870-3676 and ask for the military packet.

1 Comment  |  Permalink  |  Posted in Blog Posts

Comments

  1. Michael Affatato  |  January 31st, 2010

    Tempting to fight for America! Let’s hope Obama convinces the public that the US is NOT in a permanent state of War. See you soon in RP, Davud? Cheers – M

Leave a Comment