As ICE deports service members' families, the Pentagon turns to immigrant communities to fill military ranks

Key Points:

• Army Spc. Jasmine Hernandez enlisted partly to protect her undocumented father from deportation, but despite applying for Military Parole in Place, he was detained by ICE while the application was still pending.
• Military Parole in Place is designed to help undocumented family members of service members stay in the U.S., but it does not guarantee legal status, and pending applications do not prevent detentions.
• The Pentagon increasingly recruits immigrants and green-card holders, with a 62% rise in green-card holder enlistments from 2021 to 2024, while ICE detentions of military family members have continued under the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
• The military faces recruiting challenges due to a shrinking pool of eligible young Americans, increasing reliance on immigrant communities, and demographic shifts including a rise in Hispanic enlistment to nearly 27% of new Army recruits in 2023.
• ICE agents have been stationed on some military bases to assist with security, leading to controversial detentions and deportations of military family members, including cases where due process violations have been ruled by federal courts.