The U.S. Army may have made attempts to expel immigrant recruits despite announcing it would stop doing so months ago.
In July, the Army said it would stop discharging recruits who applied through the Military Accessions Vital to National Interests, or MAVNI, program, and review the discharge process.
But several outlets report an internal email shows Army officials were looking for damaging information on those recruits as recently as mid-August. The email from military intelligence reportedly asked Army lawyers to look through screening materials for evidence of potential crimes the recruits may have committed.
The MAVNI program aims to recruit immigrants with valuable expertise, such as medical training or language skills, in exchange for a fast-track to citizenship. In 2016, the Obama administration suspended the program and instituted a stricter vetting program that left some recruits' applications in limbo.
Last year, the Army started canceling those recruits' contracts, which reportedly left some of them at risk of being deported.
