Sponsors (9)
The bill substantially expands protections, permanent‑residence and naturalization pathways for noncitizen service members and veterans—preserving family stability and access to benefits—while imposing significant administrative burdens, potential fiscal costs, and some public‑safety, legal, and privacy risks that policymakers must mitigate.
Noncitizen U.S. service members and veterans can obtain lawful permanent resident status and have accelerated paths to naturalization, with statutory protections (clear definitions, preserved continuous residence, and moral‑character rules) that preserve eligibility despite past removals or forced absences.
Eligible veterans facing removal will have proceedings reopened and stronger procedural protections (supervisory review, service‑tracking), reducing the risk of deportation without review except after certain violent‑crime convictions.
Veterans and their families are more likely to remain in their communities and regain access to VA benefits and health care, improving continuity of care, family stability, and social supports.
Reopening many removal cases and implementing new adjudicative rules could create substantial administrative burden, delays, and backlogs for DHS, USCIS, DOJ, VA, and DoD, increasing costs and slowing other enforcement and benefits work.
Some persons with serious criminal convictions (including violent or national‑security offenses) might become eligible through waivers or narrower removal grounds, raising public‑safety and national‑security concerns for communities and policymakers.
Restoring eligibility and expanding access to benefits for previously removable or inadmissible veterans could increase long‑term fiscal costs for federal and local governments by raising demand for VA care and other public services.
Based on analysis of 8 sections of legislative text.
Creates a program to grant lawful permanent residence to eligible noncitizen veterans, reopens and rescinds prior removal orders, blocks most deportations of veterans/service members, and extends naturalization and benefits eligibility.
Introduced November 6, 2025 by Tammy Duckworth · Last progress November 6, 2025
Creates a program to allow noncitizen veterans and qualifying service members to become lawful permanent residents, reopens and cancels prior removal orders for eligible veterans, and generally blocks deportation of veterans and active service members except in cases of serious violent convictions. It requires DHS and the Attorney General to set up application procedures and to identify and track service members and veterans in immigration records, and it extends eligibility for naturalization and veterans benefits for those granted status. Agencies must issue regulations quickly (90 days) and implement the program within 180 days.