WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA), Vice Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, today urged the Pentagon not to rescind enlistment contracts for 1,800 foreign-born military recruits who have signed up to serve our country as part of the Military Accessions Vital to National Interest (MAVNI) program.

The MAVNI program allows foreign-born recruits with urgently needed special skills—such as medical training or fluency in a foreign language— an expedited pathway to American citizenship in exchange for service in the armed forces. Press reports indicate that the Defense Department is considering canceling enlistment contracts for up to 1,800 of these immigrants, a number that includes 68 Army recruits in Virginia.

“Military recruits in the MAVNI program should not have to wonder whether the United States will honor the contract they signed. If we fail to uphold the contracts we have made with MAVNI applicants, this will not only have a significantly deleterious effect on recruiting, it will also be met with a strong, swift Congressional reaction,” wrote Sen. Warner in a letter to Secretary of Defense James Mattis.

The MAVNI program began as a pilot in 2009 as a means to increase language and cultural readiness and fill in-demand positions within the military services. It allows visa holders, asylees and refugees to bypass the green card process to become U.S. citizens if they possess unique, in-demand abilities otherwise in short supply, such as medical expertise or fluency in a foreign language like Mandarin Chinese or Pashto. (A full list of MAVNI eligible languages is available here.)

In addition to possessing specialized skills, MAVNI applicants must have and maintain legal immigration status or be awaiting status under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, and must clear a thorough background check before receiving orders to report for basic training. To be eligible, healthcare professionals must commit to at least three years of active duty, or six years in the reserve, and those with foreign language skills must enlist for at least four years of active duty.

The MAVNI program has been so successful – recruiting nearly 11,000 individuals into military service since its creation – that the Department of Defense extended it just last year.

“As you consider a sustainable future for the MAVNI program, I strongly urge you not to take any action that harms military recruiting efforts or the readiness of our armed forces,” added Warner.

The letter text is below.

The Honorable James Mattis
Secretary of Defense
1000 Defense Pentagon
Washington, DC 20301-1300

Dear Secretary Mattis:

I write to express my deep concern about reports that the Department of Defense is considering canceling or dramatically altering the contracts it entered into with foreign-born recruits to the United States military, under the Military Accessions Vital to National Interest (MAVNI) program.

The MAVNI program was created as a means to increase language and cultural readiness and fill in-demand positions within the military services. To be eligible for the MAVNI program, non-citizens must possess unique, in-demand abilities otherwise in short supply, such as medical expertise or fluency in a foreign language like Mandarin Chinese or Pashto – skills described by the Department of Defense as “critical” and “vital to the national interest.” The program, which began as a pilot, has been so effective that the Department extended it in 2016.

Nearly 11,000 people have participated in the program since its inception, volunteering and placing their lives on the line in service to a country that is not yet theirs. Enlistment through the MAVNI program is not easy. In addition to possessing specialized skills, MAVNI applicants must have and maintain legal immigration status or be awaiting status under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. Before receiving orders to Basic Training, applicants must clear a thorough background check that includes screenings within the Department of Defense, Department of Justice, and the Intelligence Community.  

R‎ecent press reports suggest that senior Department officials have recommended cancellation of up to 1,800 MAVNI contracts to ease the program's overly burdened security screening system. While I understand that the MAVNI program has, since its recent extension in FY 17, required recruits to maintain continuous legal status, it has also been reported that there may be as many as 1,000 recruits who signed enlistment contracts prior to that policy change whose visas have expired while awaiting orders for basic training – putting them at risk for deportation if their contracts are rescinded.

Military recruits in the MAVNI program should not have to wonder whether the United States will honor the contract they signed. If we fail to uphold the contracts we have made with MAVNI applicants, this will not only have a significantly deleterious effect on recruiting, it will also be met with a strong, swift Congressional reaction.

As you consider a sustainable future for the MAVNI program, I strongly urge you not to take any action that harms military recruiting efforts or the readiness of our armed forces.

Thank you for your service and your attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

Mark R. Warner

United States Senator

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