Source: Radio New Zealand
Paul Canton served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1991-1998. Military.com/Facebook/Supplied
A New Zealander who has lived in the US for 25 years and even served in the US Marine Corps now faces deportation from the country.
Paul Canton was in Marines for seven years and had built a life for himself in Florida, with a wife and children, Military.com reported. But a judge has denied his bid to stay.
He previously told US news channel Tampa Bay 28, that citizenship had been promised to him when he signed up to be a Marine.
Born in New Zealand and raised in Australia, Canton first visited the US as an exchange student and said he “fell in love” with the country.
Orlando’s Channel 9 reported that he enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1991 just weeks before the Persian Gulf conflict ended.
Canton said his recruiter promised him citizenship if he served and was discharged honourably, which he did in 1998.
He went on to marry a US citizen and have children who are also citizens, Channel 9 reported.
Canton had even voted in elections but while applying for a new driver’s license, he found out he had never become an American citizen.
He then hired a lawyer and spent years trying to navigate the immigration system.
Tampa Bay 28 reported that last month a federal judge denied Canton’s legal status.
This was due to a US law that grants naturalisation to veterans but only if they actively served during a time of hostility.
Canton’s attorney Elizabeth Ricci had previously told Tampa Bay 28, that even though he was recruited during Operation Desert Storm in the Persian Gulf, Canton was not called to duty in the Selective Reserve until two weeks after the hostility ended.
She also told Channel 9 that his Australian citizenship was stripped when he joined the marines, so he is currently without a state.
Canton said he felt the US immigration system was flawed, according to Millitary.com
“I feel like I’ve been shoved through a crack.”
He said this was especially true when laws aren’t in the books to allow automatic citizenship to veterans who were honourably discharged with no criminal records.
Channel 9 also reported that Canton was not eligible for sponsorship from his partner due to his voting history.
He maintained that because he believed himself a citizen, he could vote but casting a ballot has prevented him from getting citizenship status even with his family’s help.
Canton’s family is now having to prepare for a potential, looming deportation back to New Zealand.
“My oldest boy is going to empty out the house and sell it,” Canton said in the report by Millitary.com.
“And that’s the end of my time in America. Because I can’t come back.”
“I have earned the title of United States Marine and they’re never going to take that from me,” he said.
His attorney told Channel 9 that Canton’s only pathway to remaining in the US is Congress passing a special naturalisation bill or US President Donald Trump getting involved.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
