"Protect undocumented members of our armed services, veterans, and their spouses from deportation, because if you are willing to risk your life for this country, you and your family have earned the chance to live safe, healthy, and productive lives in America. … Biden will not target the men and women who served in uniform, or their families, for deportation."
President Joe Biden has taken steps to deliver on his 2020 campaign promise to protect active-duty military members and veterans from deportation, but experts said the system still has gaps and veterans are sometimes targeted for deportation.
Immigrants who join the military must be legal residents: either U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents. But green card holders can be deported if they are convicted of certain crimes, including domestic violence or weapons or drug offenses.
The Biden administration has set policies to prevent deportations of service members and veterans, allowing deported veterans to return to the U.S. on parole, and improving naturalization procedures for veterans by, for example, allowing videoconferencing for people stationed outside the U.S.
Immigration attorney Blake Chisam said although the executive branch has worked to improve cooperation within and between agencies that address immigration, the system remains imperfect.
"Failure is going to be in there," he said. "If you set a goal of no veteran gets removed, you're probably not going to meet that goal. There will be mistakes."
Immigration and Customs Enforcement has for decades expected its agents to consider a person's military service when deciding deportations.
A 2019 Government Accountability Office report found that Immigration and Customs Enforcement followed those policies inconsistently. From 2013 to 2019, the agency placed 250 veterans in removal proceedings and deported 92 of them, the report said. Because the agency did not always track veteran status, some advocacy groups estimate the number could be higher.
In 2022, Immigration and Customs Enforcement formalized that long-standing standard, directing agents to consider U.S. military service before deporting noncitizens. The policy says agents shouldn't deport members of the military and veterans, unless other factors in the case warrant it.
In August 2022, a Department of Homeland Security report found Immigration and Customs Enforcement had deported five veterans in that year's first half.
Other agencies that deal with immigration have no such policy, Margaret Stock, an immigration attorney and retired U.S. Army Reserve lieutenant colonel, told PolitiFact. Two other agencies under the Department of Homeland Security — Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services — enforce immigration laws and figure in deportations.
"Nobody at DHS ever gave the same guidance to the other two immigration agencies," Stock said, adding that Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services are "still trying to deport military vets and military families."
Stock said she has a veteran client who Customs and Border Protection placed in removal proceedings over a 2007 drug charge after he reentered the country. A Customs and Border Protection official told her the man's military service did not weigh in its decision, according to an email she provided.
Stock said Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas could have issued a memo requiring all agencies to follow Immigration and Customs Enforcement's standard, but he didn't.
Biden's administration has also taken steps under humanitarian parole to return veterans who have previously been deported. A 2022 Homeland Security Department memo, covering Customs and Border Protection; Immigration and Customs Enforcement; and Citizenship and Immigration Services stated that current and former military members and their families who were previously deported should generally be allowed back into the country on parole, unless they threaten national security or public safety.
In 2021, the Veterans Affairs and Homeland Security departments launched the Immigrant Military Members and Veterans Initiative to aid noncitizen military members and veterans with immigration services. ImmVets, the initiative's public-facing portal, centrally offers immigration resources for military members.
As of December 2023, 93 veterans had been returned to the U.S. through the program, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported. In June 2022, the initiative's director, Debra Rogers, said it had received 143 inquiries from veterans living outside the U.S.
Another way to prevent deportations is to make noncitizen service members naturalized U.S. citizens. Military members and veterans are eligible to become naturalized citizens through a fast-tracked process, but they often don't know the application requirements.
The number of military service members who became naturalized citizens fell sharply in 2018, partly because then-President Donald Trump's administration began requiring service members to serve longer and pass a background check to receive citizenship, the Government Accountability Office reported.
A federal judge struck that policy down in 2020, and the number of naturalized U.S. military members has grown every year of Biden's presidency, from 4,570 in fiscal year 2020 to 16,290 in fiscal year 2024, a more-than-threefold increase.
But veterans still face barriers to naturalization, Stock said. In October, after previously saying it would develop a new military naturalization policy, the Biden administration asked an appeals court to reinstate the Trump administration's former policy.
Stock said military service members regularly face processing delays when they apply for citizenship, and she said people often get citizenship faster as civilians than as military members.
Nevertheless, Chisam said the administration has progressed toward the promise.
"I think they have taken steps to keep the promise, and I don't know if they've compromised, so much as imperfection lives in the system," Chisam said. "But I don't think they've failed."
The Biden administration has set formal deportation protections under Immigration and Customs Enforcement and worked to return deported veterans to the U.S. More military members have become naturalized citizens under Biden than in previous years. But veteran deportation has not stopped completely under Biden, and experts said those processes can be improved. We rate this promise Compromise.
On the 2020 campaign trail, President Joe Biden promised to protect from deportation immigrant veterans, immigrants active in the military, and their families.
Immigrants who join the military must be a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident; they cannot be in the country illegally. But green card holders can be deported if they are convicted of certain weapons crimes, drug crimes or domestic violence.
In 2008, the Defense Department created the Military Accessions Vital to the National Interest program allowing certain immigrants without a legal status, including people under Temporary Protected Status and in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. The program ended in 2016 over security concerns.
In October, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services reached a settlement agreement in a class action case with members of the military program; the settlement allowed eligible members to become naturalized citizens.
Usually, people have to be green card holders for at least three to five years before being eligible to apply for naturalization, the process of becoming a U.S. citizen. Military members can be fast-tracked for this process.
The number of naturalized service members increased from around 4,500 in 2020 to more than 10,600 in 2022. Once an immigrant becomes a citizen, they cannot be deported, unless they became citizens fraudulently.
For decades, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have been expected to consider a person's military service before deporting them. But a 2019 Government Accountability Office report found that ICE did not consistently follow such policies before starting deportation proceedings against veterans.
From 2013 to 2018, ICE placed 250 veterans in deportation proceedings and deported 92 of them, the report said. PolitiFact did not find publicly available data on how many veterans or military service members have been deported since 2018.
To address the report's findings, ICE in May created an official agency-wide policy directing agents to consider a person's military service before starting a deportation process. Under the policy, barring extenuating circumstances, agents:
Must ask every immigrant if they have served, are currently serving or have an immediate family member in the U.S. military;
Shouldn't start deportation processes against service members who are eligible for naturalization; and
Shouldn't seek to deport active members of the military.
The policy also created training requirements and reporting systems for ICE agents to follow when dealing with immigrant veterans or service members.
In February, the departments of Homeland Security, Veterans Affairs and Defense created an online platform under the Immigrant Military Members and Veterans Initiative to help immigrant members of the military gain legal support, naturalization or humanitarian parole — if they have been deported.
Although there has been progress on Biden's promise to protect military members from deportation, immigration attorney and retired Lt. Col. Margaret Stock said the government has more work to do to protect veterans from deportation and make the naturalization process more accessible. Customs and Border Protection, another agency within DHS, also does not follow ICE's new guidelines, Stock said.
The problem is that "everybody focuses only on one agency and doesn't look at all the other agencies that are involved in immigration," Stock said.
Stock said she is representing a veteran who tried entering the U.S. after serving abroad and was placed into deportation proceedings at the airport.
During the Obama administration, DHS created a program to help military members in U.S. army bases become citizens during basic training and before deployment. The Trump administration ended the program, and it has not been reinstated.
So far, Biden has directed ICE to not target veterans and to consider their service before deporting them. But experts say more can be done to fulfill this promise, including giving the same directive to another immigration agency.
We'll continue to monitor this promise, but based on the progress we rate it In the Works.