Should military veterans be protected from deportation? | The Tylt
ICE agents are moving to deport military veteran Xilong Zhu despite a directive from Defense Secretary Jim Mattis meant to protect non-citizen troops from deportation. Many believe if you fought for our country, you should be allowed to stay. But immigration hardliners argue the law is the law and anybody who is here illegally should be subject to deportation, no matter what they've done. What do you think?

Despite a directive from Defense Secretary Jim Mattis protecting military veterans from deportation, Immigration and Customs Enforcement is planning to move forward with the deportation of Xilong Zhu, a Chinese immigrant and Army veteran.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement appears to have ignored a directive from Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to prevent the deportation of noncitizen troops and veterans, seeking to remove a Chinese immigrant despite laws that allow veterans with honorable service to naturalize, court filings show.
Xilong Zhu, 27, who came from China in 2009 to attend college in the United States, enlisted in the Army and was caught in an immigration dragnet involving a fake university set up by the Department of Homeland Security to catch brokers of fraudulent student visas.
Many feel deporting military veterans is cruel and wrong. If you risked your life to serve this country, you deserve to stay. Undocumented veterans already have a tough enough time as it is and lack the safety net other veterans benefit from. Allowing them to stay in the country if they haven't committed any crimes is the right thing to do.
Is this where we are now!? We deport veterans who risked their lives to serve this nation!? So their good enough to defend and fight for our freedoms and liberties but not good enough to LIVE here!?!? HOW DOES THIS MAKE AMERICA GREAT IF WE WONT TAKE CARE OF OUR OWN!?!?đĄđĄ
— Keith Stewart (@wkstewart0615) April 4, 2018
Some, like California Gov. Jerry Brown, have stepped in to protect veterans from deportation.
As Trump continues to deport veterans, California will welcome back our second deported veteran in a year since @JerryBrownGov provided them with pardons last easter. Congrats to Hector Barajas @Banishedveteran - and welcome back home! #resist #persist
— Lorena (@LorenaSGonzalez) March 29, 2018
But others argue the law is the law, plain and simple. If you came to this country illegally, what you did once you got here is irrelevant. Allowing undocumented immigrants to stay just because they're veterans would be unfair to those who wait for years to obtain their citizenship legally.
Crime is a crime no matter what you have done...or who you were.... just common sense
— juan renteria (@superenteria) April 4, 2018
It is common sense! It is not complicated! Deport them all and re-enter utilizing our immigration laws! We are a country of law and order! It is time we step up and enforce them all to protect our sovereignty!
— Gretchen Smith (@codeofvets) April 3, 2018