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Campaign Update: Banished Veterans Defense CommitteeBy Jan A. RuhmanThey deport US combat Veterans don't they? You bet your ass they do, from Vietnam to Afghanistan and Iraq. As I rush to meet the deadline to submit this update on the plight of US Military Veterans facing deportation I have become aware of two brothers in Colorado, both United States Marine Corps Veterans, who served in Vietnam, and two United States Marine Corp Veterans in California, who served in Iraq. I think it is important to point out that since I began working on this issue in January of 2009 I have become acutely aware that every single vet facing deportation came from poor immigrant families and served in the combat arms branches of the US military, the Army and the Marines. They have names like Segovia, Castro, Valenzuela, Coombs, Cervantes, Alvarez and Nguyen just to name a few. Not a single one of the hundreds I have met, spoken to, emailed or whom we have chronicled through accounts of family and friends, served in the Coast Guard, the Navy or the Air Force. That alone should tell us all we need to know about who they are and why they have run afoul of the law, or have untreated PTSD. But let's look a little closer at some of these men. First let's take a look at the two brothers in Colorado, former Marines who served in Vietnam: Valente Valenzuela. USMC 1967-1969. One tour in Vietnam with Gulf Co. 3/3 1968. Two Bronze Stars, Honorable Discharge. Rated by the VA with PTSD. Convicted of and being deported for domestic violence. Manuel Valenzuela. USMC 1971-1974. One tour in Vietnam 1973. Honorable Discharge. Fighting with the VA for PTSD Disability Rating. Convicted of and being deported for resisting arrest. Let's fast forward to today's warriors. Two Iraq Veterans, also former Marines, from Southern California: Jose Roberto Benitez Segovia. USMC 2002 – 2006. Two tours in Iraq. Rated by the VA in Long Beach, California with PTSD. Honorable Discharge. Convicted of and being deported for false imprisonment in an attempt to stop his fiance from leaving his sorry ass. The second woman to do so since returning home to a grateful post 9/11 nation. Christian Castro. USMC 2003-2008. Two tours in Iraq. Honorable Discharge. Rated by the VA with PTSD. Convicted of and being deported for serious weapons charge. Banished Veterans To seek Justice for America's Military Veterans who served our nation in the Army, the Navy, the Marines, the Air Force and the Coast Guard who are facing arrest, imprisonment and deportation by amending the Immigration and Naturalization Act to grant all current Active Duty US Military Members and Veterans the status of "US Nationals" in perpetuity. Note, the INA provides that a non-citizen national is "a person who, though not a citizen of the United States, owes a permanent allegiance to the United States." 8 USC. 1101(a)(22). To seek Justice retroactively for all those veterans banished from America's shores by repatriation and "Welcome Home" through education and lobbying members of Congress and the American People. It's clear to me that the deportation of US Military combat veterans will continue unabated unless we continue our hard fought and successful efforts to build a National Banished Veterans Defense Committee. Similar to VVAW's National Campaign for the Gary Lawton Defense Committee back in the 1970's, raising funds for under paid pro-bono attorneys and coordinating lobbying efforts in Congress to change the law will put an end to it. I hope you can make a serious effort in your State, County and Congressional District to organize and bring justice to these veterans. Jan A. Ruhman was an activist member of VVAW in the 1970's in Los Angeles and Southern California and San Diego Contact for VVAW, a founding member of the Banished Veterans Defense Committee, member of VFP in San Diego and Operations Coordinator for Vetspeak.org a blog run by former members of the US Military with the intent to publish veteran's voices. jan.ruhman@vetspeak.org or 858-361-6273.
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