King: Undocumented Immigrants Who Want To Join Military Are ‘Defrauding’ The Government

*As shocking as the statement may seem to some, Rep. Steve King’s (R-IA) assertion that undocumented people who join the military are “mercenaries” is not extraordinary. The statement is extreme by many measures, but par for the Iowa congressman who’s become the standard bearer for the far right on issues like immigration. VL

By Esther Yu-Hsi-Lee, Think Progress

Anti-immigration Rep. Steve King (R-IA) thinks that undocumented immigrants who would one day like to enlist in the military are “defrauding the Department of Defense.” During a general speech on the House floor Friday afternoon, King blasted Rep. Jeff Denham ‘s (R-CA) ‘Enlist Act,’ which would grant citizenship to undocumented immigrants who have honorably served in the military, because he believed that undocumented immigrants would be disingenuous about serving the country faithfully.

King said that the bill would grant “amnesty” to people who “committed the crime of unlawful entry” and that they would be “defrauding the Department of Defense.” He called such individuals “mercenaries”  …

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GOP looks at military as path for immigrant citizenship, Associated Press