Army Speeding Up Recruitment of Illegal Aliens

The Pentagon is speeding up its recruitment of illegal immigrants in a program that fast-tracks them to U.S. citizenship, as Congress debates allowing the military to do so.

Since January, the Pentagon has enlisted 81 illegal immigrants who arrived in the U.S. as children and qualify for President Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, according to figures provided by the Army on Thursday.

Between January and April 8, only 43 had been enlisted, an Army spokesman said.

Since then, at least 38 more recruits have signed up.

But in Congress, members are debating whether illegal immigrants should lawfully be allowed to join the armed forces.

Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), a Marine veteran and son of Hispanic immigrants, inserted a provision in the 2016 defense policy bill that would encourage the Defense secretary to consider qualified illegal immigrants as "vital" to national security.

The House is scheduled to debate the bill next week, but some House Republicans, led by Rep. Mo Brooks (Ala.), are trying to strip the provision, arguing it endangers the measure's passage.

Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) said he will propose an amendment during consideration of the bill to remove the provision if it has not already happened by then.

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