US Military to Allow Illegal Immigrants to Serve as Soldiers

By - A small number of undocumented immigrants in the US will have an opportunity to join the military for the first time in decades under a new Department of Defense policy unveiled Thursday

The new rules will expand an existing program allowing recruiters to target foreign nationals with high-demand skills mostly rare foreign language expertise or specialized health care training

For the first time the program — known as Military Accessions in the National Interest or MAVNI — will be open to immigrants without a proper visa if they came to the US with their parents before age 16 More specifically they must be approved under a 2012 Obama administration policy known as Deferred Action for Child Arrivals or