MAVNI was created during Bush/Cheney era to recruit translators and medical specialists for campaigns in Iraq, Afghanistan and other Middle East locales. It was implemented by Obama, who changed it to allow DACA recipients a quick way to citizenship. Recruits were less skilled cooks, drivers, etc than specialists originally targeted need by military.
10,000 immigrants since 2009 under program. Pentagon IG reported in 2017 that potential security issues due to lax vetting process. Defense Sec Mattis changed security review process. He was sued and case is still working way through legal paths.
Now program is being rolled back without any fan fair. Recruits are pissed because their free ticket is null and void.
Commentary: this program was started when US lacked sufficient trained soldiers to talk to Iraqi citizens. I recall Army actively recruiting medical personnel to serve in exchange for debt cancellation. There was a proposal it allow Navy corpsman personnel to be temporarily assigned to Army because need was dire. Washington pissing contest halted that idea.
Immigrants have always had this pathway to citizenship. There is nothing wrong with the program in my opinion. What happened when Obama twisted it to his agenda endangered national security.
Trump’s DoD expanded security review and bottlenecked the process. Now, recruits, who were delayed from entering basic training within a time frame are being kicked out. I wonder if this is a “bad apple” sorting system. I’m sure some of these disenfranchised recruits will sue administration.
“Evaluation of Military Services' Compliance with Military Accessions Vital to the National Interest Program Security Reviews and Monitoring Programs” 2017 IG report is classified. “Sources” says country of origin concerns, vetting process, misuse were highlighted in report. Rep. Steve Russell was main voice to call for program termination due to potential security risks.