Veterans Drawn Into Immigration Debate

[NNN0LHI]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/IMMIGRATION_MILITARY?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=US

Marcial Rodriguez, a U.S. Marine who grew up in a Mexican farming village, is offended that the country he went to war for might deport his relatives who are living here illegally.

Three months after the lance corporal returned to Ohio from the fighting in Iraq, the U.S. House adopted a bill that would make Rodriguez's cousin a felon for being one of the nation's 11 million illegal immigrants. snip

It is unclear how many soldiers find their loyalties similarly divided, but at a time when Pentagon has stepped up recruiting of Hispanics to fill recruiting quotas, experts say a crackdown on illegal immigration would undoubtedly cause resentment in the ranks.

"How do you tell them we're going to deport their parents and grandparents?" asked Hector Flores, president of the League of United Latin American Citizens, a group that has encouraged Hispanics who do not plan to attend college to join the military. "That's not America."

[acmejack]

1. A Marine is offended because the law might be enforced?

"deport his relatives who are living here illegally." "That's not America." Well, it should be or they should get rid of the law. And while they are at it let's get rid of all the other laws that people ignore too. Line forms to the rear...