Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin, D-Mich., told The Hill that a legalization for illegal aliens who serve in the military was not included in his draft of the National Defense Authorization Act because “(i)t was not the best place to do it.” Levin favors such legislation but said that complications arose.
Levin said, “we got word that it would be counterproductive to attempt to do it [in the NDAA]. In addition he said a dispute had arisen among supporters of the measure as to whether it would provide for legal permanent residency after service or direct citizenship. “That would have become a issue which could have set the effort backwards instead of forwards,” Levin told The Hill. “There was no consensus, as I was told, among the groups that favor this.”
Levin did not know if any Senator will offer an amendment adding the ENLIST Act when the NDAA is debated on the Senate floor. “If it makes sense to give it a go at that time, hey, we’ll give it a go, but we don’t want to set back that cause by having a debate over citizenship and losing that debate,” Levin said. He noted that Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., was the “point person” on the matter.
