Army temporarily suspends discharges of immigrant recruits

The U.S. Army has stopped discharging immigrant recruits who enlisted seeking a path to citizenship – at least temporarily.

A memo shared with The Associated Press on Wednesday and dated July 20 spells out orders to high-ranking Army officials to stop processing discharges of men and women who enlisted in the special immigrant program, effective immediately.

It was not clear how many recruits were impacted by the action, and the Pentagon did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Early last month, the Pentagon said there had been no specific policy change and that background checks were ongoing.

Margaret Stock, an Alaska-based immigration attorney, says the memo proves there was a policy.

Recruits and reservists reached Wednesday said their discharges were still in place as far as they knew.