Arizona U.S. Senate candidate Kari Lake highlighted the previous support by Representative Ruben Gallego (D-AZ-03) for legislation that would have allowed illegal immigrants who entered the United States as children to serve in the U.S. Armed Forces.
Lake noted Gallego’s previous support for the legislation after Tucker Carlson posted a discussion of a bill currently in the U.S. House that would allow illegal immigrants to serve in the military in exchange for an expedited path to citizenship.
“Allowing ILLEGAL immigrants to serve in our military was [Ruben Gallego’s] solution to the recruitment crisis he helped launch through his support of Biden’s draconian vaccine mandate,” Lake wrote in a post to X, the website formerly known as Twitter.
She argued that Gallego “revoked our enlisted men [and] women’s right to serve our country because he didn’t think they deserve medical freedom” while also seeking “to reward the people who broke into our country with a loaded weapon and citizenship.”
Allowing ILLEGAL immigrants to serve in our military was @RubenGallego's solution to the recruitment crisis he helped launch through his support of Biden's draconian vaccine mandate.
Ruben revoked our enlisted men & women's right to serve our country because he didn't think they… https://t.co/z8lGZuYbe6
— Kari Lake (@KariLake) March 5, 2024
The bill Gallego supported in 2022 would have allowed the 600,000 illegal immigrants who were brought into the United States as children and allowed to stay by the Obama administration’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
Justifying his support for the bill, Roll Call reported Gallego argued the United States needs “more talented people in the military” and described illegal immigrants as “a population of people that are already serving their country in different ways” and are “very patriotic.”
The congressman also claimed the country’s national security could be threatened unless the illegal immigrants were allowed to serve.
“While it is partly an immigration issue, it’s also a national security issue, especially right now,” Gallego told the outlet, explaining that illegal immigrants could help the military recover its recruitment shortfalls.
Though Gallego supported legislation to extend military service to DACA recipients in 2022, the congressman is not presently listed as a cosponsor of the Courage to Serve Act of 2024, filed by Representative Pat Ryan (D-NY-18) in February.
The legislation would allow a pilot program for illegal immigrants with no lawful permanent status in the country to join any branch of the military. Additionally, it would allow illegal immigrants accepted into the military to apply for permanent residency within 180 days.
Lake’s decision to highlight Gallego’s previous support for illegal immigrants in the military comes following a report that her campaign intends to target the congressman on crime and immigration and after a poll showed her beating Gallego in a head-to-head race.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Georgia Star News, The Virginia Star, and the Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Rep. Ruben Gallego” by Rep. Ruben Gallego.
This has been done before so nothing new here.