Marine denied citizenship

https://www.wesh.com/article/central-florida-military-veteran-denied-us-citizenship-again/33397860

Person, born in New Zealand and raised in Australia then comes to the US as an exchange student. In 1991 he joins the Marines, told by joining and getting an honorable discharge he is guaranteed that he will be a citizen. He did not withhold anything from the recruiter but he was actually ineligible to be a Marine.
He serves for 4 years, goes on with his life and because Florida goes to the Real ID he finds out last year he is not a citizen. He has a wife and kids, DL, worked and paid taxes and has voted thinking he was a citizen.

In his first court appearance they said he could not become a citizen having claimed to be a citizen and voted, they said he was of poor moral character.
They withdrew that claim on his second court appearance but he's still in limbo.

I hope they get their act together and make an exception for him.

This is what happens when liberal judges are in power. We have tried to show you and even sent you links but you still do not get it... And you even served if I am not mistaken.

He can get a greencard thru marriage and not need US Citizenhsip in USA and function as normal. Only thing he would be limited to doing is: Working in a Federal Job that required US Citizenship and Vote.

No biggie

Ignorantia juris non excusat or ignorantia legis neminem excusat.

It's not automatic, takes about 10 seconds to find the process

https://www.uscis.gov/military/naturalization-through-military-service

I dont know about new Zealand people, I think we should keep them out, a wall or something.

I guess he should have crossed over from Mexico.

why should we care about his issues?

We already have pretty large moat-

Enlisting in the military does not and has never given you automatic citizenship. Person in question is either dumber then dirt or lying through his teeth. Playing the sympathy card cause hes a vet, what a joke. News flash, just because someones a vet doesn't automatically exclude them from being a sh!tbag.

You can never be too safe.....

I don't want anyone to misconstrue my statement as a bash to the military. I served 20 years in the US Army and am just speaking from first hand experience.

So he thinks he is a citizen and acts like a citizen, whatever that is, so he votes. If you vote and are a non citizen that is a felony crime and non citizens need to learn voting illegally means you will never become a citizen. The Marine part, and being stupid don’t give him a pass.

It seems to me the Marine assumed a lot, but did very little follow up. Willful ignorance is not a valid excuse.

BOYCOTT KIWIS!

Yep. I'll add thank you for your service, but not much beyond that.

All he has to do is walk into court and say he wants to do his part to remove Trump from office.

Yep

Must have voted Republican,if he would have voted dumbocrat they would give him free health care and welfare check and declared him a citizen faster than a fast cat can lick his own a--.

What should really stand out about this whole thing is, HOW DID HE GET REGISTERED TO VOTE! It looks like anyone can sign up and vote without being a citizen of the United States. I wonder how many thousands or millions have voted in our elections without having citizenship.

I don't know anything about this case, but it does seem to make sense that serving in the military should be one path to citizenship.

"...but he was actually ineligible to be a Marine."

As a Marine who served with at least two officers that were not US citizens, one British, the other Polish, I question that statement. Also, at one time I worked with a Canadian citizen that was drafted into the US Army. Yes, I checked, that was legal.

That was my first thought also. However, from the article:

He was never eligible to be a Marine to begin with. The Marines, as do all our branches, require permanent residency, the green card, or citizenship. He was neither.

I served with a number of Panamanians in the Army whose sole purpose for enlisting was to become a US citizen

There might’ve been a stipulation with US territories that allowed that

Same with the Philippines.

I served with a guy from Mexico that was sworn in as a US citizen while we were in Korea. The ceremony was at the US base in Seoul and I believe at the time it was the first time anyone was sworn in as a citizen outside of the US. It was pretty cool to be there.

we had several Panamanians in the air force as well.

Me too, JP.

I think the sentiment in here today is really negative.

If you went to New Zealand and wanted to become a citizen..........you wouldn't have a clue. Marine Recuiter tells you some BS to get you to enlist and boom your there.

I can't believe the recruiter lied.

As I remember, there were several Puerto Ricans in my basic training (Ft. Jackson) who were there for the citizenship. Good soldiers too.

I also did basic training there and that’s where I met the Panamanians

There were several Panamanian SSGs in the company who were big into boxing

They rounded up the Panamanian recruits and pulled out some guys who were boxers. I think they we’re put in a different training regime because I never saw them again

The military must’ve had a program whereas they accepted recruits from US territories

we ALL got lied to.