Trump’s ICE crackdown is hurting America’s armed forces 

Immigrants and the children of immigrants are a crucial source of personnel for the U.S. military. Given events in the Middle East, this is an odd time to go out of the way to alienate them, but that is what the White House, congressional Republicans and Republican governors and legislators in numerous states seem intent on doing. 

Although it goes largely unrecognized, every heavily immigrant high school graduating class is a windfall for the U.S. Armed Forces. Many in this cohort enlist. They are often of high caliber — many children from immigrant families who would make strong college students join the military instead for the economic opportunity. A 2020 Department of Defense poll found that paying for education was second only to income as motivation for enlisting.  

A 2021 poll found that one struggle the department faces in getting young people to enlist is their “dislike of military lifestyle.” The challenging childhoods that kids from immigrant families often face — low standards of living, cutting lawns with dad every Saturday, or helping raise younger siblings, being responsible for helping their families in a way most modern American youth are not — prepare them well for the discipline, privations and self-sacrifice required of servicemembers.

I teach seniors. As I watch my students enlist, I sometimes wonder what their lives would be like had they been born into more fortunate circumstances. For a teacher, it comes as a surprise to see the long-haired, disorganized student with unusual perspectives cut his hair short and serve on a........

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