U.S. Army discharging troops promised citizenship

-Source- The Washington Times- Immigrant enlistees into the Armys active duty and reserve units promised a path to citizenship in exchange for military service are being discharged from the services ranks. Roughly 40 U.S. soldiers have been quietly discharged from the Army due to their immigrant status the Associated Press reported Thursday night. Potentially more have been involuntarily separated from the ground service but Army and Pentagon officials declined to provide additional details on those discharges due to pending litigation against the service by those being removed the AP reports. The existing Army program known as the Military Accessions Vital to the National Interest program or MAVNI was initiated under the George W. Bush administration. Under the program immigrants seeking to enlist in the Army must be in the U.S. legally before being considered for military service. President Barack Obama extended the program to allow young immigrants who entered the U.S. illegally under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals or DACA policy to participate. Over 5000 recruits enlisted into the Army in 2016 alone under the program with over 10000 currently in uniform in the Army and other service branches. Immigrant enlistees are eligible to become naturalized U.S. citizens upon completion of basic training. Over 110000 U.S. service members have joined the military since Sept. 11 2001. The Army declined to comment on whether the involuntary discharges were part of a wholesale change to the Army enlistment program.