[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 151 (Friday, October 5, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2073]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

[[Page E2073]]



RECOGNIZING AND HONORING SOLDIERS FIGHTING THE WAR WHO ARE NOT AMERICAN 
                                CITIZENS

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. CHARLES B. RANGEL

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, October 4, 2007

  Mr. RANGEL. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize soldiers who are 
fighting and dying in the war, but are not American Citizens and to 
enter into the record an article from the September 18, 2007, edition 
of the New York Times entitled, ``Becoming an American Citizen, the 
Hardest Way'' by Clyde Haberman.
  Everyday there are men and women who are not yet American citizens 
fighting on the battle fields in Iraq and Afghanistan. Words alone are 
not enough to express my gratitude and sincere thanks to American and 
soon-to-be American soldiers, who made the ultimate sacrifice by 
putting their lives on the line everyday. Volunteering to serve in the 
armed forces is a brave and noble act and there are so many soldiers 
who do so in part due to the opportunity presented by the accelerated 
naturalization process available to those who enter military service. 
To date, there have been 103 posthumous grants of American citizenship 
to non-citizen war soldiers.
  The sacrifice made by non-citizens who have and are currently 
enlisting in the armed services demonstrates the value of American 
citizenship. Their sacrifice and commitment is honorable and should 
never be forgotten. Our great country, despite some of the challenges 
we face, continues to be the place in the entire world where people 
from all over the world are inspired by democracy, justice, freedom of 
religion, peace, and an opportunity to pursue happiness. This explains 
the motivation for non-citizens to enlist in the military and put their 
lives on the line in hopes of achieving their American dream.
  I'm grateful that I had an opportunity to assist with the granting of 
American citizenship to Corporal Alcantara of the United States Army, 
one of my constituents, who lost his life in Iraq. I grieve at the loss 
of the life of a young man with such a great promise and I again extend 
my heartfelt sympathy to his family and many friends in our community.

               [From the New York Times, Sept. 18, 2007]

             Becoming an American Citizen, the Hardest Way

                          (By Clyde Haberman)

       On an August day when some Iraqi's homemade bomb tore 
     through him, Cpl. Juan Mariel Alcantara became an American. 
     He never got to appreciate the honor.
       A little-discussed detail of this war is that some of those 
     fighting in it as soldiers of the United States are not 
     American citizens. Over all, about 21,000 noncitizens are 
     serving in this country's armed forces, the Defense 
     Department says.
       Until death claimed him on Aug. 6, one of them was Corporal 
     Alcantara of the United States Army.
       He did not live long enough to acquire a richly textured 
     biography. He was born in the Dominican Republic, reared in 
     Washington Heights. He was 22 when the bomb--an improvised 
     explosive device, in military-speak--ended his life and the 
     lives of three fellow soldiers from the Second Infantry 
     Division while they searched a house in Baquba, north of 
     Baghdad.
       At 22, Corporal Alcantara was old enough to have talked 
     about going to college and maybe becoming a New York police 
     officer, old enough to have a fiancee, old enough to have 
     fathered a baby girl he never saw, Jaylani, 6 weeks old when 
     he was killed. He was old enough, too, to have sought 
     American citizenship.
       Every year, thousands of noncitizen soldiers do that, 
     through an accelerated naturalization process offered to 
     those who put themselves in harm's way so that the rest of us 
     can go about our lives untouched by war. And every year, some 
     of those soldiers become citizens only after they have 
     literally been wrapped in the flag.
       No other war has produced anywhere near as many posthumous 
     citizens as this one, according to the United States 
     Citizenship and Immigration Services. Corporal Alcantara is 
     the latest, No. 103. He is the 12th from New York, an honor 
     roll that reflects today's city: 10 men and 2 women born in 
     the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Guyana, Belize, Trinidad and 
     Tobago, Myanmar and Nigeria
       The Americanization of Juan Alcantara came at his family's 
     request. Representative Charles B. Rangel of Manhattan helped 
     shepherd the application through the bureaucracy in a matter 
     of days. Officially, the corporal was declared an American 
     from the day he died.
       There was a formal ceremony yesterday in the colonnaded 
     Great Hall of City College of New York. Corporal Alcantara's 
     relatives accepted his certificate of posthumous citizenship. 
     They sat somberly in a front row: his mother, his two sisters 
     and his fiancee, Sayonara Lopez, who fed Jaylani from a 
     bottle.
       Like scores of others filling the rows behind them, they 
     carried small American flags. Yesterday was Citizenship Day 
     across the country, a celebratory day for newly minted 
     Americans. In the vaulted majesty of the Great Hall, used on 
     occasion for such ceremonies, 242 people from 51 countries 
     took the oath of citizenship. They were men and women like 
     Lance Whitely, 32, formerly of Jamaica, now of the Bronx. 
     ``It's everybody's dream to become an American citizen,'' he 
     said before the ceremony began.
       The new citizens listened to speeches on America's grandeur 
     and watched a large-screen video of President Bush offering 
     congratulations.
       Mr. Rangel, a critic of the Iraq war, left politics at the 
     door. He spoke of a country that is hardly perfect but is 
     ever working to make itself better. Once a combat soldier 
     himself, part of the same Second Infantry Division during the 
     Korean War, he talked about Corporal Alcantara's sacrifice 
     and America's debt to him.
       Throughout, the Alcantara family sat disconsolately. They 
     applauded with the others and recited the Pledge of 
     Allegiance and waved their little flags. But their hearts 
     were elsewhere.
       Maria Alcantara, the soldier's mother, is clearly a woman 
     of stricken soul. She holds Mr. Bush responsible for her 
     son's death. Corporal Alcantara's Iraq duty was supposed to 
     have ended on June 28, a day before his daughter was born. 
     But his tour was extended as part of the president's troop 
     ``surge.''
       ``If my son had been allowed to return, he would be 
     alive,'' Ms. Alcantara said in Spanish, ``and he''--meaning 
     the president--``is guilty.''
       ``My happiness, my everything, is gone,'' she said.
       The mother, who is not an American citizen, also spoke of 
     being grateful for her son's naturalization. Still, gratitude 
     does not bring peace of mind, said one of her daughters, 
     Fredelinda Pena. ``It's not a happy moment,'' Ms. Pena said.
       Unlike others on this day of celebration, the family wiped 
     away tears. When the president's image appeared on the 
     screen, Ms. Alcantara kept her head down. She could not bring 
     herself to look at the man who she felt was the reason her 
     son did not come home.

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