Report: Non-Citizens in the Enlisted U.S. Military

"Although in recent years non-citizens have made up only a small share of enlisted accessions (roughly 4 percent), they are a potentially valuable pool for enlisted recruiting for three reasons. First, the number of U.S. non-citizens who are eligible for enlisted military service is large. Approximately 1.2 million non-citizens are in the desired age range (18 to 29) and have the requisite education, resident status, and English language ability for enlistment. Second, our data suggest that a sizable share of the recruitable U.S. non-citizen population comes from diverse backgrounds and possesses language and cultural skills that are of strategic interest to the U.S. military. Third, we find that non-citizen recruits are far less likely than citizen recruits to attrite in the first term, even after controlling for demographic and service-related characteristics that likely affect attrition."  CNA, Nov. 2011. *

[NOTE: Immigration attorneys were not consulted by the authors, and experts may note some technical errors.  For related reading, see here and here.]

* Copyright 2011 CNA - This work was created in the performance of Federal Government Contract Number N00014-11-D-0323. Any copyright in this work is subject to the Government's Unlimited Rights license as defined in DFARS 252.227-7013 and/or DFARS 252.227-7014. The reproduction of this work for commercial purposes is strictly prohibited. Nongovernmental users may copy and distribute this document in any medium, either commercially or noncommercially, provided that this copyright notice is reproduced in all copies. Nongovernmental users may not use technical measures to obstruct or control the reading or further copying of the copies they make or distribute. Nongovernmental users may not accept compensation of any manner in exchange for copies. All other rights reserved.