Sponsors (3)
The bill opens military service and naturalization pathways to certain noncitizens—boosting recruitment and individual opportunity—while creating administrative burdens, transitional legal uncertainty, and potential political controversy that may slow processing and prompt disputes.
DACA recipients who hold USCIS employment authorization can enlist in the U.S. Armed Forces, expanding the pool of people eligible to join and helping military recruitment goals.
Eligible DACA holders who enlist gain access to military pay, training, and benefits they would otherwise be barred from, improving economic opportunity for those individuals.
Servicemembers who served in Freely Associated States can now qualify for naturalization under the 'at the time of enlistment...in the United States' rule, and changing gendered pronouns to gender‑neutral language ensures eligibility rules apply equally across genders.
Verifying DACA employment authorizations for enlistment and the likely added naturalization application volume will increase administrative and vetting burdens on DoD and DHS, could require new resources, and may slow processing times.
Deleting 8 U.S.C. 1439 and changing cross‑references and wording could create transitional uncertainty and unintentionally exclude some applicants or past service records, leading to denials, appeals, or litigation for people who expected to qualify under the old rules.
Expanding enlistment and naturalization eligibility for noncitizen groups may provoke political controversy among some Americans who view it as a change to immigration standards for military service.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Allows DACA employment authorization for military enlistment and revises naturalization-through-service rules to include service in freely associated states and modernizes statutory language.
Official title: Amend title 10, United States Code, to authorize the enlistment of certain aliens in the Armed Forces, and for other purposes.
Introduced July 29, 2025 by Ruben Gallego · Last progress July 29, 2025
Allows people with USCIS Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) employment authorization to enlist in the U.S. Armed Forces and restructures rules for naturalization based on military service by removing a prior statute and expanding qualifying locations to include freely associated states. It also makes clerical and gender‑neutral wording changes and updates cross‑references; the bill does not create new funding or agencies.