Today (Tuesday, Oct. 29), the House Subcommittee on Immigration and Citizenship will hold a hearing on “The impact of current immigration policies on service members and veterans, and their families.” Representative Lou Correa (D-Santa Ana) will chair the hearing.
“We are a nation of immigrants,” Rep. Correa said. “This hearing focuses on the service immigrant servicemembers provide our country and what we as a nation must do to keep our promises to them. No one who puts on the uniform and is honorably discharged should be subjected to what our immigrant veterans face. As every soldier knows, you never leave a soldier behind. We, as a nation, continue to leave these immigrant soldiers and their families behind. That must end.”
In fact, federal officials seem to be taking extra effort to deport U.S. military veterans. According to this June 12, 2019 Military Times story, federal officials aren’t even following U.S. procedures that explicitly require them to consider prior military service before deportation.
In any case, here’s a list of witnesses who will testify at today’s hearing, according to Rep. Correa’s office:
Hector Barajas-Varela: He’s a deported veteran who was deported for a conviction related to discharging a firearm. But former California Jerry Brown pardoned him, and he’s now a U.S. citizen. Today he advocates for deported veterans and is the director and founder of Deported Veterans Support House.
Margaret Stock: Lieutenant Colonel (Retired), Military Police Corps, U.S. Army Reserve. Stock is one of the most capable immigration attorneys in the country on veteran issues.
Jennie Pasquarella: Director of Immigrants’ Rights/Senior Staff Attorney with American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California. She and ACLU SoCal have worked a great deal with deported veterans, and will speak to the obstacles they have faced in the past as well as new hurdles for green card holders that have been put in place by the Trump Administration.
Mark Metcalf: (Republican guest) Former immigration judge and Lieutenant Colonel in the Army National Guard.
The hearing will start today at 11 a.m. Pacific time (2 p.m. Eastern time) and take place in the Capitol’s Rayburn Building. Click here to watch the hearing live online.
Anthony Pignataro has been a journalist since 1996. He spent a dozen years as Editor of MauiTime, the last alt weekly in Hawaii. He also wrote three trashy novels about Maui, which were published by Event Horizon Press. But he got his start at OC Weekly, and returned to the paper in 2019 as a Staff Writer.