IMMIGRATION
From Limbo to Certainty: Supporting Immigrants on the Military Front Line
AS A YOUNG GIRL IN INDIA, MEGHANA GOPABHAT
Madhusudhan dreamed of joining NASA and becoming an astronaut. In pursuit of her dream, Madhusudhan entered the United States with a student visa to earn a master’s degree in electrical engineering at California State University, Long Beach, interned at a drone startup in Ohio and began private pilot training. She had long wanted to join the U.S. military as a pilot, but was unable to do so without a Green Card.
recruiter urged her to apply for deferred action, which in effect notified immigration authorities that her legal status to remain in the United States would expire.
A Life in Limbo Months after she had enlisted, the government began to withdraw from the promises it had made to recruits like Madhusudhan. By the fall of 2016, the Army had ceased shipping recruits to basic training. With her application pending for deferred action and no date to start her military service, Madhusudhan was forced to live in limbo, virtually
That changed after Madhusudhan learned about the Military Accessions Vital to National Interest (MAVNI) program. MAVNI was designed to attract noncitizens with critical foreign language skills or medical training Many MAVNI applicants cannot obtain work permits to support themselves into enlisting in the U.S. military, with or meet basic legal responsibilities, such as renewing driver’s licenses. the promise of an expedited path to citizenship after enlistment. For under house arrest and dependent on others to support 10 years, the MAVNI program has successfully recruited her—she was unable to renew her student visa, lease an thousands of talented individuals into the military. apartment or work legally. After Madhusudhan enlisted in the United States Army under “I possess essential technical skills and expertise in robotics/ MAVNI in April 2016, a recruiter told Madhusudhan not to image processing and language skills which could prove worry about maintaining her immigration or work status, beneficial to the U.S. military. I want to fight for my adoptive which was set to expire before her basic training began. Her
14 | 2017 PRO BONO ANNUAL REPORT