If It Had Not Been for an Immigrant, U.S. Might Have Remained a British Colony

Under order from Donald Trump’s Department of Defense during his first term in office, the U.S. Army suddenly and without much fanfare, had been discharging immigrant recruits and reservists who enlisted under a program initiated in 2008, which can lead to a path to naturalized citizen status. When pressed for a reason for this policy, DOD officials tell recruits that they pose “security risks” to the U.S. because they have family members abroad for whom the military cannot properly conduct background checks.

• J.C. Julius Langbein, Musician, USCIS Buffalo Field Office
• Capt. Adolphe Libaire – Civil War, USCIS Baltimore Field Office

President George W. Bush started the program – known as Military Accessions Vital to the National Interest (MAVNI) – to increase the number of troops among steadily declining citizen recruitment.

• Boilermaker Edward Floyd – Spanish-American War, USCIS Charleston Field Office
• Sgt. John Kennedy – Civil War, USCIS Fort Smith Field Office

The DOD announced that “All service members (i.e. contracted recruits, active duty, Guard and Reserve),” as well as those who have received honorable discharges, “are protected from deportation.” According to lawyers for several of the immigrant recruits, however, their clients have been given an “uncharacterized discharge,” a neutral designation falling under the standard of “honorable.”

• Pvt. Cornelius J. Leahy – Spanish-American War, USCIS Fresno Field Office
• Pvt. Joseph Frantz – Civil War, USCIS Indianapolis Field Office

Not “neutral,” though, this reversal of policy is yet another clear and unambiguous attack on immigrants and immigration from the Trump administration. Also obvious is the fact that Donald Trump lacks interest in and knowledge of the vital role immigrant military recruits have played in the history of the United States.

• Pvt. Joseph Frantz – Civil War, USCIS Indianapolis Field Office
• Pvt. Charles Bieger – Civil War, USCIS Kansas City Field Office

Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, a renowned tactical military specialist from Prussia, arrived on the shores of Portsmouth, New Hampshire on September 26, 1777. His purpose was to join the Continental Army in its Revolutionary War of independence against the British.

• Cpl. John J. Beaufort – Civil War, USCIS New Orleans Field Office
• Spc. Leslie Sabo Jr.- Vietnam, USCIS Pittsburgh Field Office

By this time, the Continental Congress had fled Philadelphia in advance of British troops and had settled in York, Pennsylvania. General George Washington was commanding a rag tag band of volunteers, and Steuben donated his services for no salary to develop a military training program.

• Sgt. Jesus S. Duran – Vietnam War, USCIS San Bernardino Field Office
• Lt. Col. Frederick Füger- Civil War, USCIS Philadelphia Field Office

What Steuben accomplished was nothing short of phenomenal, for he turned a scrubby assemblage of farmers and merchants into a unified, efficient, and powerful force.

He instituted a method of “progressive training,” a sort of school for the soldiers. He raised the standards for maintenance of uniforms and military hygiene. He taught the effective use of the bayonet, which increased soldiers’ ability to attack and to defend themselves even when their rifles were unloaded.

• Army Sergeant Major John M. Farquhar – Civil War, USCIS Buffalo, New York Verification Operations Center
• Army Staff Sergeant Isadore Jachman – World War II, USCIS 111 Massachusetts Ave. Headquarters Building, Washington, DC

His techniques are credited for the Continental army’s victory in several battles, including the battle of Stony Point. He also developed an efficient system of camp sanitation by developing standards and the more effective arrangement of tents and other living structures, latrines, and mess halls. These procedures remained in effect in the U.S. military for more than a century and a half.

• Army Air Force Sergeant Archibald Mathies – World War II, USCIS Dallas District Office
• Army Trumpeter Isaac Payne – Indian Wars, USCIS Denver District Office

General Washington gave Steuben command of one of the army’s divisions for the final battle at Yorktown. Following victory, Steuben assisted Washington in demobilizing the army in 1783, and he helped to craft a defense policy for the infant nation.

• Army Private First Class George Dilboy – World War I, USCIS Detroit District and Field Offices and Application Support Center
• Army Private First Class Silvestre Santana Herrera – World War II, USCIS Field Office, Orlando, Florida

Steuben was awarded a military discharge with full honors on March 24, 1783. Through an act of the Pennsylvania legislature in March 1784, Steuben became a citizen of the United States and later settled on Manhattan Island.

• Navy Chief Watertender Peter Tomich – World War II, USCIS Headquarters Conference Center, Washington, DC
• Army Sergeant James Mestrovich – World War I, USCIS Headquarters History Office and Library, Washington, DC

Though Steuben contributed in profound ways to the Continental Army’s victory over the British, which resulted in what we know today at the “United States of America,” and while e deserves a prominent place in the pantheon of our country’s military leaders, how many of us have ever heard of him? Where is he mentioned in our school textbooks, or in the discussions focusing on the founding of the United States? Why has this hero who contributed so greatly been virtually forgotten, while lesser figures are often referenced?

• Marine Corps Sergeant Louis Cukela – World War I, USCIS Hialeah, Florida Field Office and Application Support Center
• Army Technician Fifth Grade Eric Gibson – World War II, USCIS Kendall, Florida Field Office and Application Support Center

I would put forth that the primary reasons for this erasure is the documented historical evidence that Steuben was an immigrant (whose family could not be properly vetted), and because he was, in modern terminology, “gay.”

• Army Sergeant Thomas Plunkett – Civil War USCIS Lawrence, Massachusetts Field Office and Application Support Center
• Army Sergeant Major Abraham Cohn – Civil War USCIS Manchester, New Hampshire Field Office

Each year, on March 25, the U.S. commemorates National Medal of Honor Day set aside to recognize recipients of our nation’s highest award for bravery and courage. Since the first Medals of Honor were presented during the Civil War, more than 700 recipients of the award have been illustrious immigrants who went over and above the call of duty on the field of battle.

• Army Corporal Tibor “Ted” Rubin – Korea USCIS Oakland Park, Florida Field Office and Application Support Center
• Navy Chief Gunner’s Mate Thomas Eadie – Interim Period of 1920-1940 USCIS Providence Rhode Island Field Office

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services identifies the exceptional bravery of this exclusive group of heroes by devoting places in 29 facilities in their name to honor their gallantry and valor. These 29 are listed throughout this commentary.

• Marine Corps Sergeant Matej Kocak – World War I, USCIS Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina Field Office and Application Support Center
• Army Staff Sergeant Laszlo Rabel – Vietnam, USCIS Southeast Regional Office Orlando, Florida
• Marine Corps Private Henry Lewis Hulbert – Philippine Insurrection, USCIS West Palm Beach Florida Field Office and Application Support Center

As our country debated whether to lift the military ban on gay and lesbian people serving openly in the military – the so-called “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy dating back to 1993 in which approximately 13,000 qualified military personnel have been drummed out of the service branches on the mere charge of being lesbian or gay – we need to remember people like Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, and ask ourselves the question:

If the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy had been instituted and enforced during the Revolutionary War period, if Trump’s draconian surveillance, arrest, and deportation of immigrants policy had been instituted during the pre-Revolutionary and throughout the Revolutionary War period, and if Steuben had been tossed out of the military and out of the country, would we today be an independent nation or a perennial colony of Britain?

We can say, however, that if it had not been for the efforts of Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, a gay immigrant, and all the fine immigrant military service members since they first joined in 1775, we very well could find ourselves under the realm King Charles III from the House of Windsor, rather than under the rule of would-be King Donald from the House of Orange.