Pentagon eyeing immigrants who arrived illegally

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon is weighing allowing some immigrants brought illegally to the country as youths to serve in the military, a unilateral step by the Obama administration as immigration legislation remains stalled in the Republican-led House.

The announcement came Tuesday as House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, defended his election-year decision to rebuff a narrow immigration measure pushed by a GOP congressman to achieve a similar goal.

The Pentagon consideration would apply to immigrants who arrived illegally as kids but already have received work permits and relief from deportation under a program President Barack Obama announced two years ago, called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA. More than 500,000 immigrants have benefited from the program.

Americans Renouncing Citizenship Up 221%, All Aboard The FATCA Express

America is a great land and lures immigrants worldwide, yet record numbers of U.S. citizens and permanent residents are giving up their citizenship or residency. For all the immigrant arrivals the trickle the other direction is increasing. The number is still small, with the “published” expatriates for the quarter 630 for the last quarter of 2013.

That brings the total number to 2,999 for all of 2013. The previous record high for a year was 1,781 set in 2011. It’s a 221% increase over the 932 who left in 2012. You can call it a shaming or a public record, but the Treasury Department is required to publish a quarterly list of Americans who renounced their U.S. Citizenship or terminated their long-term U.S. residency. The public outing puts Americans on notice who relinquished their rights.

Number of U.S. expatriations reaches record high In 2013

The Treasury Department published the names of 560 Americans who renounced their citizenship or are long-term residents who gave back their green cards during the third quarter of 2013, The Wall Street Journal reported. According to tax lawyer Andrew Mitchel who tracks the data, these expatriations reached a record high of 2,369 for the year. The prior highest number of published expatriates was in 2011, said Mitchel.