Why All Latino Men Should Register With Selective Service

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By Dan Amon, Public Affairs Specialist with the Selective Service System

Some young Latino men never find out that living in America means registering with the Selective Service System (SSS). An undocumented man who registers with Selective Service will not be turned over to immigration officials and deported. Selective Service cannot possibly know a man’s residency status, because no SSS form asks for it. Nor do we care. Our mandate from Congress is to register young men, not enforce the regulations of other departments. We wouldn’t share that information with immigration officials even if we had it.

Registration is important because America has a history of being unprepared for national crises. Pearl Harbor, for example. An in-depth 1980 study, five years after the registration requirement was suspended, showed that America was once again unprepared. The registration requirement was reinstated, and remains in place today for men ages 18 through 25.

America has had an all-volunteer military since 1973. Few people want the return of a military draft. But everyone recognizes the need for this backup system in case some grave international crisis requires more manpower than the all-volunteer military can provide. That’s what Selective Service is, an insurance policy. A nation shouldn’t drop its insurance policy any more than a young family man should.

The second reason is the long-standing connection between the rights and duties of living in the America. Congress has reinforced the connection by making registration a condition for many benefits and privileges, such as student financial aid. Perhaps the most important privilege to the Latino community is U.S. citizenship.

Many Spanish-speaking young men enter this country without documents because they seek a better life. They work hard and keep a low profile for fear of legal problems. Years later they might apply for citizenship. Many applications are denied because of failures to register before the age of 26. Too many men don’t register because they didn’t know about it. And couldn’t know about it because they didn’t go to American high schools and didn’t speak English when they arrived.

SSS outreach to Latinos has another motive, if the draft were resumed, exemptions or deferments would be heard by local boards, which should reflect the community they serves. It stands to reason that boards in San Antonio and other areas of high Latino population density should be heavily Latino —there are vacancies on many local boards and Selective Service wants to fill them, for more information click here.

Men have been denied federal employment because they haven’t registered. Men who lost jobs and tried to upgrade their skills through education have been denied student loans. Selective Service encounters cases like these every week. Each case is a tragedy. One case is one too many.

To register online click here, or go to any U.S. Post Office and ask for a registration form.