U.S. Military Recruiting Targeting More Immigrants

link to photo

U.S. Military recruitment officers in the LA area are expanding their inclusion of immigrants.  Those who are here on temporary visas or asylum orders are now eligible to enlist.  

The Army must be thinking "better to recruit immigrants than felons."  Before we blink, the DREAM Act will pass and our dear DREAMers will be on their way to Afghanistan.  Let's hope more DREAMers consider college than the military.

LA Times, May 4, 2009:

"starting today, 10 Los Angeles-area Army recruiting offices will begin taking applications from some foreigners who are here on temporary visas or who have been granted asylum."

see "Army Extends Military Recruiting:  Pilot program seeks to boost the ranks of language and healthcare specialists by offering citizenship." Los Angeles Times, May 4, 2009

Confronting Colleagues on Iraq and SCHIP

Photo of Rep. Pete Stark by Mike Kepka








Democrat Rep. Pete Stark calls Republicans "Chicken Hawks"-
California congressman shocked his colleagues with his statements on IRAQ and SCHIP.

link to video of Stark's speech: http://youtube.com/watch?v=DsGaNR9dVPM


Rep. Pete Stark stated on the floor of the U.S. House:

"You're going to spend it to blow up innocent people if we can get enough kids to grow old enough for you to send to Iraq to get their heads blown off for the president's amusement..."


But Pelosi and others have distanced themselves, saying Stark's comments were inappropriate. Yet Stark is speaking the truth, with the current desperation of military recruiters, it seems like the U.S. is desperate to have more young people to go IRAQ. With $18,000 sign up bonuses - an 18 year old would have to be pretty mature to avoid the seduction of so much money - if they knew that college wasn't an option.

Makes me think of the kids who will be going to IRAQ after the DREAM ACT passes. If SCHIP is not important to this administration, why would undocumented young people fare any differently?

It's another story about the Emperor with no clothes... it's right in front of us - clearly in view - but no one is allowed to acknowledge this travesty.


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Pelosi backs away from Rep. Stark's criticism of Bush
Zachary Coile, Chronicle Washington Bureau
San Francisco Chronicle
Saturday, October 20, 2007

(10-20) 04:00 PDT Washington --

Rep. Pete Stark may be Congress' foremost expert on health care, but on Capitol Hill the Fremont Democrat is better known for his explosive remarks that drive his critics - and sometimes his allies - crazy.

The 18-term lawmaker stirred the pot again Thursday when he attacked President Bush and congressional Republicans for backing hundreds of billions of dollars for the Iraq war, but blocking a $35 billion expansion of a children's health insurance program.

"You're going to spend it to blow up innocent people if we can get enough kids to grow old enough for you to send to Iraq to get their heads blown off for the president's amusement," Stark told Republicans on the floor of the House.

The remarks during the debate over Bush's veto of the children's health bill drew howls of outrage from House Republicans and conservative commentators. His words were replayed endlessly on cable news and talk radio. By Friday, even House Speaker Nancy Pelosi - who praised Stark for his leadership on the children's health bill a day earlier - was distancing herself from his comments.

"While members of Congress are passionate about their views, what Congressman Stark said during the debate was inappropriate and distracted from the seriousness of the subject at hand - providing health care for America's children," Pelosi, D-San Francisco, said.

What Pelosi also meant: Stark had handed Republicans an easy way to distract the public from what Democrats view as a winning stance on the popular children's health bill.

Stark, 75, declined a request Friday for an interview.

"He doesn't believe that he is the story," said his spokesman, Yoni Cohen. "He believes the story is that 10 million children are being denied health insurance."

Stark's remarks have drawn protests in the past. On the eve of the Iraq war, he said Bush would be committing a "terrorist act" by bombing Baghdad. He provoked a committee showdown in 2003 by calling a GOP member a "little fruitcake."

A closer look at Stark's comments Thursday - and how they were spun by Republicans - shows how his tart-tongued statement became headline news.

He began: "First of all, I'm just amazed that the Republicans are worried that we can't pay for insuring an additional 10 million children. They sure don't care about finding $200 billion to fight the illegal war in Iraq. Where are you going to get that money? You are going to tell us lies like you're telling us today? Is that how you're going to fund the war?

"You don't have money to fund the war or children, but you're going to spend it to blow up innocent people if we can get enough kids to grow old enough for you to send to Iraq to get their heads blown off for the president's amusement."

He went back to the same point moments later: "But President Bush's statements about children's health shouldn't be taken any more seriously than his lies about the war in Iraq. The truth is that Bush just likes to blow things up in Iraq, in the United States and in Congress."

On the left, Stark's comments drew rave reviews. They were posted on the blog DailyKos, stirring applause from the site's anti-war, anti-Bush readers: "Wow, this guy kicks ass," wrote one blogger.

But Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, who followed Stark on the floor, said: "It is despicable to have a member of this Congress accuse this president, any president, of willfully blowing the heads, quote, blowing the heads off our young men and women over in Iraq and Afghanistan."

The GOP spin machine went into hyperdrive. House Republican Leader John Boehner's press aides alerted reporters to Stark's comments. The National Republican Campaign Committee issued a press release, titled: "Democrat Disgrace: Pete Stark Drags SCHIP Political Circus to All-Time Low."

But Stark continued to taunt GOP members - clearly seeking to draw a reaction.

"What are you going to do for that 200 or 300 billion bucks, folks, that you're spending to kill these kids when they grow up? You can't answer that, can you?" he said.

Republicans tried unsuccessfully to have his words stricken from the official record.

Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, said the remarks "were hateful and wrong, and should be labeled as such by the House Democrat leadership."

While Pelosi, in her statement Friday, said Stark had gone too far, Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, provided him a measured defense.

"The Republicans are desperate to change the subject from the real issue at hand, which is an occupation that has cost us almost a half a trillion dollars, and there's no end in sight," she said. "That's the real issue here, and the Republicans, and the president, are desperate to avoid it."



article: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/10/20/MNH9ST598.DTL&tsp=1
photo: http://www.sfgate.com/c/pictures/2007/03/18/ba_stark1800048_mk.jpg

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The Caucus
October 19, 2007, 1:47 pm
Stark’s Remarks Set Off G.O.P. Lawmakers
New York Times
By David M. Herszenhorn


“Yesterday’s debate in the House to override the President’s veto of bipartisan legislation to cover 10 million children was heated on both sides,” she said. “While Members of Congress are passionate about their views, what Congressman Stark said during the debate was inappropriate and distracted from the seriousness of the subject at hand — providing health care for America’s children.”

Mr. Stark expressed neither shame nor remorse. Instead, he fired back a statement calling on Mr. Boehner and other Republicans to retract their opposition to the expansion of the state children’s health insurance program. “Leader Boehner and his Republican colleagues should apologize for their votes,” he said.

And he included another jab at President Bush. “I have nothing but respect for our brave men and women in uniform and wish them the very best,” he said. “But I respect neither the commander-in-chief who keeps them in harms way nor the chicken-hawks in Congress who vote to deny children health care.”

The Military Option: Fight for Residency

Opinion: The Iraq Shortcut To Citizenship Legalization
Scripps Howard News Service, October 01, 2007
By Jorge Mariscal

In an obscure memoir of the American war in Southeast Asia, an undocumented Mexican who had enlisted in the Army with the aid of an unscrupulous recruiter, writes: "I realized that for me to live in the United States, the system was asking me to pay a high price. Now I probably would have to give my life. Was it worth it?"

During the Vietnam War period, citizens from foreign countries in the U.S. military were rare and unknown to the public. Today, although they make up only a small percentage of the overall force, they appear regularly in media stories, Pentagon publicity and nativist rants about a Mexican invasion.

Non-citizens make up between 2 percent and 3 percent of total military manpower. To date, they have received more than 200 medals and awards for service in the combat zone. Over 100 of them have received posthumous citizenship after making the ultimate sacrifice. The majority of them have roots in Latin America.

Is the U.S. military becoming a foreign legion? Not yet. But the strain on active-duty, Reserve and National Guard personnel is becoming unbearable. Fresh bodies are hard to find and so there is renewed interest in a piece of legislation that could produce a bumper crop of eligible non-citizens for recruiters.

The Development Relief and Education for Alien Minors -- or DREAM -- Act has been floating around the halls of Congress for more than six years. If it passes this year, it would provide a pathway to permanent residency for undocumented young people who were raised and completed high school in the United States. Those who qualify would have to complete two years of college or enlist in the military in order to earn a permanent green card.

The Latino community was quick to support the legislation because of its educational component. For the first five years, there was a deafening silence in Latino circles about the military option. This changed only recently when the Pentagon and elected officials began to discuss openly the DREAM Act as a possible fix for the military's manpower needs.

Bill Carr, acting deputy undersecretary of defense for military personnel policy, told reporters that the legislation would help "boost" military recruiting. Lt. Col. Margaret Stock of the U.S. Army Reserve, and a faculty member at West Point, confirmed that the DREAM Act could help recruiters meet their goals by providing a "highly qualified cohort of young people" without the unknown personal details that would accompany foreign recruits. ...

"They are already going to come vetted by Homeland Security. They will already have graduated from high school," she said. "They are prime candidates."

Last July, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said on the floor of the Senate, "The DREAM Act would address a very serious recruitment crisis that faces our military. ... (It) creates a strong incentive for military service. And many DREAM Act kids come from a demographic group that is already predisposed towards military service "

The irony, of course, is that while the Pentagon chases young non-citizens to fill the ranks, other non-citizen workers whose economic contributions to the nation are undeniable are being pursued by other agencies of the U.S. government.

As one worker told me, Latino communities are experiencing a "double deportation." On the one hand, military recruiters are flooding those high schools that have Latino majorities. Many of those young men and women who are successfully recruited will end up in Iraq and Afghanistan. A metaphorical deportation, of course, but from the family's point of view a painful removal of a loved one, nonetheless.

At the same time, the undocumented parents and siblings of those soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines watch as armored vehicles carrying teams of armed personnel invade their neighborhoods to conduct Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids. Just last month in the working-class neighborhood of Barrio Logan of San Diego, for example, police surrounded a 10-block area while helicopters circled overhead and ICE agents swept through in full combat regalia. Similar actions are taking place across the country.

Some of these parents have been arrested and scheduled for deportation hearings. Remember, these are parents whose sons and daughters are fighting "for democracy" in Iraq. One such case is that of U.S. Army Pvt. Armando Soriano, 20, who died in Iraq in 2004. This summer, ICE raids swept through Houston. Soriano's father was detained and is currently threatened with deportation.

Like the undocumented Mexican soldier in Vietnam, young Latinas and Latinos presented with the military pathway to acceptance will have to ask themselves if the price is worth it.

(Jorge Mariscal is a professor of history and literature at the University of California-San Diego. Reach him at gmariscal@ucsd.edu.)

The DREAM ACT and Sofie's Choice

"conditional residency status" does not automatically mean in-state tuition. That option was negotiated out of the senate bill.

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In the film "Sofie's Choice" a young mother is forced to decide which of her two children will live and which wil die. She and the children have arrived at Auschwitz. A sadistic German officer forces her to make a decision. Ultimately it is her daughter that dies and her son that lives. The guilt destroys her life. She survives the death camp and immigrates to the United States, but the guilt overtakes her.

The current state of the DREAM ACT has a strong semblance to Sophie's Choice. U.S. Senators have decided who will live and who will die. I mean this literally. The DREAM ACT students who have already completed their 2 years of college (and other requirements like no criminal record etc) will not only live, but will flourish with their new residency status, their education and their tremendous drive. The undocumented youth who have not completed the education requirement may have no other choice than to join the military. The only chance they have is if they live in a state that already has in-state tuition for undocumented students - then they can continue their schooling. If they reside in one of the other 40 states they will have to come up with thousands of dollars to pay international student rates. Remember that undocumented students rarely qualify for financial aide.

To regularize they join the Army, or the Marines, or another branch of the military. Since the U.S. Congress has not made any kind of committment regarding our withdraw of American troops, it is likely these young recruits will be sent to Iraq. We all know the consequences of that assignment. Military deaths in Iraq and Afganistan do not match the Vietnam War, but if you include injuries causing disabilities, the numbers are the same.

it is important for me to clarify that I'm not totally against the military. What I do not agree with is thousands of soldiers being sent to a conflict that should have been ended long ago. Otherwise, the military is great for most young people. By enlisting they mature, leave their home region, meet people from all over, and then take with them benefits that will help them continue their education.

So its one for the other. I'm sure the DREAM ACT is seriously being considered now because of the military option. Otherwise it would have passed a long time ago. When Durbin took out the in-state tuition clause he and his colleagues decided to greatly reduce the accessibility of the education option in order to get the bill passed.

The consequences are this:

in one family there are two DREAM ACT students. One that just completed college and one finishing high school. The college graduate will automatically qualify. The high school student faces dismal prospects if the state in which he lives does not have in-state tuition.

He may have "conditional residency status" - but this will not automatically allow him in-state tuition. He will not qualify for in-state tuition in the other 40 states until he obtains his "permanent residency."

What does he do now if he can't afford international student tuition rates?

Bad Dreams: Taking Out In-State Tuition From the DREAM ACT

photo: The Bad Dream by M.T. Hernandez






The past couple of days I have developed a case of blog ambivalence. The DREAM ACT as it stands with no in-state tuition clause is something I cannot endorse. I realize that the U.S. House still has the provision, but considering how things have been going for immigration bills, it seems like people like Senator Sessions will win out -- they will give the military their 65,000 instant recruits, but make it too expensive for the DREAM ACT kids to go to college. As stated before on this blog, only 10 states have in-state tuition for undocumented college students... That means students in 40 states would have to pay international rates. Immigrants may not be as poor as they used to be, but paying private tuition size rates without financial aide (if you are undocumented your chances of getting financial aide are next to impossible) - is unrealistic.

Having been in my 20s during the Vietnam era I am quite aware of the impact it could have on the immigrant community. As long as the U.S. Military is involved in conflict, the immigrant recruits are in danger - you can imagine who would get sent to the battle zone first.

Underside of the DREAM ACT

This post has been circulating around Latino academia the past few days. Now that the in-state tuition clause is definitely extracted from senate bill this warning does not seem so strange...

What is interesting is that this comment by Mariscal came several days before any media news began to circulate about the in-state tuition being dropped.

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FROM Professor JORGE MARISCAL

Project YANO has been warning for several years about the stealth military recruiting component of the DREAM Act. Nobody wanted to hear about it. Now the connections with the Pentagon are becoming crystal clear. Check out Senator Durbin's remarks from the Congressional Record of last July (and today he agreed to drop the in-state tuition clause for the college option thereby eliminating the college option for thousands of undocs). Apparently, the Pentagon is pushing hard for the amendment (despite opposition from Homeland Security). It could be voted on tomorrow.


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Durbin:

On the floor of the Senate, when we return next week, we will resume consideration of the Defense authorization bill. It turns out that many in the Department of Defense believe, as I do, that the DREAM Act is an important part of making certain we have talented young men and women ready to serve in our military. I have spoken to people at the Department of Defense who support the idea of the DREAM Act. I think we ought to include it in the Defense authorization bill. I hope to have that opportunity. [snip]

I hope when we return to the Defense authorization bill we can make the DREAM Act part of that bill. Certainly, it is going to help our defense and help our military. I think it is going to help America even beyond that. [snip]

Mr. President, as I said, I rise to speak about legislation known as the DREAM Act, which I hope to offer as an amendment to the Defense authorization bill.

Some people might ask why the Senate should revisit immigration again and whether an immigration amendment should be included in the Defense authorization bill. The answer is simple: The DREAM Act would address a very serious recruitment crisis that faces our military.

Under the DREAM Act, tens of thousands of well-qualified potential recruits would become eligible for military service for the first time. They are eager to serve in the Armed Forces during a time of war. And under the DREAM Act they would have a very strong incentive to enlist because it would give them a path to permanent legal status.

The DREAM Act doesn't mandate military service. A student who is otherwise eligible could earn legal status by attending college. It would be inconsistent with the spirit our volunteer military to force young people to enlist as a condition for obtaining legal status.

But the DREAM Act creates a strong incentive for military service. And many DREAM Act kids come from a demographic group that is already predisposed towards military service. A 2004 survey by the Rand Corporation found that 45 percent of Hispanic males and 31 percent of Hispanic females between ages 16 and 21 were very likely to serve in the Armed Forces, compared to 24 percent of White men and 10 percent of White women.

Taking a Closer Look at the DREAM ACT

An email was sent around yesterday (Sept. 21) by a number of academics that urged readers to take a closer look at the DREAM ACT. It was about the military provision. It made me pause. I never felt that comfortable about it. (see "Recruitment and Death in War, August 18, 2007, and "DREAM ACT and the Military, August 7, 2007). But I had convinced myself that it was only a tool to get the bill passed. Now I'm beginning to think differently. Like Fernando Suarez de Solar, I say BEWARE.

A good friend of mine that I've known for over 20 years said something to me recently about politics. He said that people don't pass laws so they can be nice to other people. They pass laws because it is in the lawmakers best interest. How does the DREAM ACT fit the interests of Senator Richard Durbin?

Ideally the DREAM ACT is great. The two year education option is an excellent way to help students get regularized. But the military option is beginning to sound more sinister. Durbin said that a number of immigrant students are pre-disposed to join the military... you know, us Latinos, our men are mostly those macho types (I say this with irony), many want to join the Marines or the Army so they can show how tough they are - wow can you imagine how big the lines would be for people to sign up!

However, watching the Senate debate this week really made me wonder if those senators had any idea of what the soldiers in Iraq are going through. They kept talking about victory, and wanting to leave Iraq after the country is stabilized. They laughed off the protection Senator Jim Webb was trying to get for the soldiers, when he asked for equal time at home. The Democrats are not able to get past the Republican stonewalling. But maybe there is a lession in this. Maybe its better that the DREAM ACT aka "Lets Get Lots of Latinos to use as Cannon Fodder" not pass. I imagine some of you are gasping.... what is this! She has been writing post after post pushing this bill.!

Unlike President Bush, I believe in changing positions if necessary - and I can admit I was wrong. The DREAM ACT is not wrong, but its wrong to seduce young immigrants into joining a military that just wants to toss them over there into the hell hole of the Middle East (which the U.S. created). In one second the student's dream would all end... all the senate has to do is outlaw in-state tuition for undocumented students as part of the bill. That would keep almost all the students from attending college... leaving them with limited options -- basically only joining the military.

Now -- this is not saying I'm unpatriotic. I just believe in respecting the lives of other human beings. I keep thinking of those thousands and thousands of American military who have returned home in pieces - and haven't been served well by the Veterans Administration. Many more are surviving their injuries compared to the Vietnam War..., but they remain useless to themselves and to our country.

360,000 Undocumented H.S. Graduates for the Military

U.S. Army recruiters must be sitting at the edge of their chairs. If the DREAM ACT passes, they will have another 360,000 potential recruits. Never mind that most of the country wants to bring the soldiers back home from Iraq. Maybe they want the ones who would be the hardest workers to be there the day of the big pullout.

People used to say that the military was a great place to grow up. Maybe so, but not in the jungles of Vietnam or the dust of Iraq.

For the DREAM ACT students, it will be a tough choice.
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A military route to citizenship
Plan for undocumented youths stirs debate
Daniel González
The Arizona Republic
Sept. 17, 2007 12:00 AM

Hundreds of thousands of undocumented-immigrant youths could become eligible to join the military to offset shortages of qualified recruits under a bill pending in Congress.

...The proposal still has a strong chance of passing if backers in Congress are successful in attaching it to the annual defense-authorization bill this fall.

The Development Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act would allow undocumented high-school graduates to gain citizenship if they either attend college for two years or serve two years in the military.

Undocumented immigrants now are not permitted to serve.

Military analysts say the DREAM Act would help the armed forces find qualified recruits, whose numbers have dwindled because of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Some immigrant groups, however, say the DREAM Act amounts to a "de facto draft."

Using immigrants to boost the ranks of the military is not new.

With the demands in Afghanistan and Iraq, the United States began offering legal immigrants a chance to expedite citizenship applications for themselves and relatives if they enlisted.

Roughly 70,000 immigrants serve in the military, and about 40,000 are non-citizens. Immigrants make up about 5 percent of the total 1.4 million men and women on active duty.

..."The DREAM Act would address a very serious recruitment crisis that faces our military," Sen. Dick Durbin, the bill's author, said on the Senate floor in July while trying to muster support for the DREAM Act to be attached to the annual defense-authorization bill.

Durbin wasn't successful, but Sandra Abrevaya, a Durbin spokeswoman, said that the Illinois Democrat will try again, possibly as early as this month.

The DREAM Act has broad bipartisan support in Congress.

U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Tucson, is a co-sponsor of the bill in the House. He said the legislation has a better chance now that the military aspect is being played up.

...Poor educational conditions and inadequate schooling make military enlistment the only option for many undocumented youths, the group says.

"We are afraid that it's going to cause a de facto military draft for our undocumented youth," coordinator Jose Lara said. "We fully support the college part of it, but the reality is Latino college rates are low, so the majority will pick the military part of it."

Luis Avila, 25, a student at Arizona State University, organized a weeklong hunger strike at the end of July to raise public support for the DREAM Act in Arizona. He said he is troubled by the increased emphasis on the bill's military provision.

"The DREAM Act is not really for them to join the Army, it's for them to get their education," Avila said.

Still, many undocumented immigrants he spoke with during the fast said they would prefer to join the military.

"I told them they should go to college and then join the military so they can enter as an officer rather than be put on the front lines," Avila said.

If it passes, the DREAM Act would create a substantial pool of potential recruits. The Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan research organization in Washington, D.C., estimates about 360,000 undocumented high-school graduates in the United States are of military age, between 18 and 24.

Another 715,000 undocumented youths are between the ages of 5 and 17, according to the institute.

Military analyst Margaret Stock, an immigration lawyer from Anchorage, Alaska, teaches at West Point about immigrants in the military. She said fears that the DREAM Act would turn into a "back-door draft" are unfounded.

That's because the military would need only a fraction of the undocumented immigrants made available by the DREAM Act to help offset shortages of qualified recruits.

Stock said the DREAM Act would help the military "a great deal..."

"The modern military needs a lot of smart, successful people, and a lot of the DREAM Act kids are like that," she said.

For complete article click the title of this post

Before You Decide to Enlist - Tune into HBO Thurs. 9 13 07 - 9 pm Eastern

Now that the DREAM ACT is tied up in the STRIVE Bill encouraging undocumented students to enlist... everyone needs to watch the HBO documentary:


"Alive Day Memories: Home From Iraq"

Airs on HBO: Thursday, September 13 9pm Eastern

Not only is it a good film... but it was produced by James Gandolfini (The Sopranos) -- giving even more reason to see it.

---

Amy Goodman

"Tens of thousands of U.S. troops have been injured in Iraq. And for the first time in American history, 90% of the wounded survive their injuries, but a greater percentage of these men and women are returning with amputations, traumatic brain injuries and severe post-traumatic stress.

A new HBO documentary provides an inside look at how the war has permanently changed the lives of these wounded troops. It is titled "Alive Day Memories: Home from Iraq." The film premiered on Sunday night and is airing again on HBO this Thursday at 9pm Eastern."


Co-founder of Downtown Community Television Center and award-winning journalist, Jon Alpert co-directed and co-produced this documentary. His daughter Tami Alpert is a producer and reporter for DCTV. She also assisted in producing Alive Day Memories.

Jon Alpert, co-director and co-producer of Alive Day Memories. Alpert is also the co-founder and co-director of Downtown Community Television Center and an award-winning journalist.
Tami Alpert, assistant Producer of Alive Day Memories and producer and reporter at Downtown Community Television Center."


http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/09/12/1410249

Recruitment and Death in War

Many Latino high school and college students tell me that they are constantly receiving phone calls from military recruiters. There are many reports of low recruitment rates, most probably associated with the unpopularity of the Iraq war. The lower the numbers the more aggressive the recruiters.

As for undocumented students, it often seems like a reasonable idea to enlist, since the DREAM Act has been stalled. Although official news is that if you are not documented, you can't enlist, most people say otherwise. Things may change if the DREAM Act is actually attached to a military bill - many more students will pursue this option. Sometimes I wonder if the raids and increased enforcement efforts are also meant to scare young people into enlisting...


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Recruiting For Iraq War Undercut in Puerto Rico
By Paul Lewis
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, August 18, 2007; Page A01


SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- The political activists, brown envelopes tucked under their arms, staked out the high school gates just after sunrise. When students emerged from the graffiti-scorched streets of the Rio Piedra neighborhood here and began streaming toward their school, the pro-independence advocates ripped open the envelopes and began handing the teens fliers emblazoned with the slogan: "Our youth should not go to war..."

Under the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, all schools receiving U.S. federal funding must provide their students' names, addresses and phone numbers to the military unless the child or parents sign an opt-out form. Puerto Rico received $1.88 billion in U.S. education funds this year. For five years, PIP has issued opt-out forms to about 120,000 students in Puerto Rico and encouraged them to sign -- and independista activists expect this year to mark their most successful effort yet...

Leaders from the island's two major political parties say that their PIP opponents are exploiting young people to advance their separatist grievances. And Pentagon officials accuse the activists of "manipulating" impressionable young people...
Sonia Santiago, founder of the local group Mothers Against War, said her volunteers visit schools to "unmask" the way in which recruiters promise "villas y castillas" (villas and castles) that they cannot deliver. One persuasive tactic, she added, is to ask children how their mothers would feel if they were injured or killed in war....

The Pentagon lists 37 service members from the island as killed in action in the two conflicts, but local antiwar groups say the number exceeds 80, including suicides and soldiers recruited from the U.S. mainland....

For complete article:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/17/AR2007081702175.html?hpid=topnews