9/11 was a day that rocked the world. One of the reasons that the U.S was not able to stop this tragedy was not because they were unable to intercept any messages, but as it was discovered later, there wasn’t anyone who could translate them. This is when Bush administration authorized a new program called Military Accessions Vital to the National Interest Program, or MAVNI. It was created by a US Army Officer, Col. Margaret Stock. It brought in highly-vetted legal immigrants who had native language capabilities or specialized Medical skills to the army. This program also provided tracks for these immigrants to have an expedited path to Citizenship.
But all has changed since October 13, 2017 when the current Trump administration reversed this expedited path to citizenship. Now only the immigrants serving the military can obtain their citizenship once they are able to negotiate through many bureaucratic obstacles and extensive background checks.
With this program also being shutdown, the military is likely to lose lot of valuable recruits and end up with lower quality of skills in terms of language and culture, that have been benefiting the military since the start of this program.
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