I caught Joseph Heredia Medina getting ready this week for his first and perhaps last trip to the nation’s capital.
“Never been there,” the 99-year-old widower said as he sat next to me in the living room of his St. Paul home. Medina, one of the state’s oldest surviving World War II veterans, is not going to Washington for pleasure or to sightsee, though, as a charter member of the World War II Memorial, he definitely plans a stop there.
Accompanied by his son, Mike, a Vietnam veteran, Medina’s on a mission of mercy and hope. He wants to impress upon legislators in Washington the need to do the right thing for many youths who would like to serve their adopted country as he did but are prohibited from doing so.
Now, there have been marches, sit-ins, walks, petitions, write-in campaigns and an ongoing mass fasting to persuade Congress to pass a comprehensive immigration reform bill. I would wager, on this subset issue of military service, that Medina’s proud and dignified way may be as influential in the halls of Congress as all those other efforts.
“These two men, father and son, are heroes who served their country and are due the respect we would grant anyone who made that choice,” said John Keller, executive director of the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota. “They speak with a level of respect and personal sacrifice that we think a lot of members of Congress can identify with.”
Under current law, only legal permanent residents (green card holders) can enlist in the military. The so-called “Dreamers” — the estimated 1.4 million youths brought here as children by their unauthorized immigrant parents or caretakers — are prohibited, regardless of the deferred-status presidential directive enacted 16 months ago. The directive bars their deportation as long as they are in school, working, have no felonies, are under 31 and came to the U.S. before they turned 16, among other criteria. Also ineligible for military service are immigrants from El Salvador, Syria, Sudan and other locales who qualify for temporary protected status.
Medina is yesterday’s dreamer.
Born in Zacapu, Michoacan, Mexico, Medina lost both parents by the time he was 9 months old. His adopted father, Angel Medina, worked in the coal mines in Alabama before the extended family relocated to Sleepy Eye, Minn., to work the soybean fields.
Years later, Joseph Medina, by then married with three children, was working a deferred government job at a plant supplying meat to troops. He entered the U.S. Army in January 1944. It was then he was informed for the first time that he was not American-born and was undocumented.
While he was stationed in Washington, the Army did not boot him and others like him in his unit. Instead, they were ordered to enter Canada and re-enter the U.S. using their military IDs. That process earned him citizenship. Medina was shipped off to the Pacific Theater and served in the Army Corps of Engineers under Gen. Douglas MacArthur. He was among the occupation forces that landed in Japan after the atomic bombs were dropped.
Earlier this year, a bipartisan U.S. Senate majority passed an immigration reform bill that would allow such “Dreamer” youths to join the military. But the proposal has stalled in the House of Representatives. Opponents of the bill, mostly Republicans, are concerned it will lead to a path to eventual citizenship.
So part of Medina’s three-day mission is to visit and chat with Minnesota Republican Reps. Erik Paulsen and John Kline, among others. If Obama is around and willing, “I’ll meet with him, too,” Medina quipped before he departed Tuesday.
Another must-stop planned for Wednesday is the “Fast for Families” tent at the National Mall. On Nov. 12, a core group of organizers began a fast to draw attention to the plight of undocumented families and the call for reform.
Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle, including the president and first lady, stopped by in recent days to express support. The first group of fasters was relieved a few days ago, replaced by another batch of folks.
Among the current fasters is the Rev. Jim Wallis, who believes reform is a moral imperative and has likened the tent to a chapel. There is also Emilia Gonzalez, 32, a single mother from Minneapolis who was heartened Tuesday at hearing that Medina may drop by.
“We just had the governor of Virginia stop by and the support has been overwhelming,” Gonzalez said by phone Tuesday afternoon. “It will be such a joy to have him come here.”
Medina will have company besides his son. Guillermo Illescas, 16, and Karen Velez, 17, respectively a sophomore and a senior at Eastview High School in Apple Valley, are also part of the trip.
Illescas was brought here from Mexico at age 5, Velez at age 3. Illescas would like to join the U.S. Air Force. Velez wants to join the Minnesota National Guard and also pursue a career in psychology. “I was brought up in this beautiful country, and I truly feel I belong here,” Velez says in a video shot a few weeks ago. “It would be an honor for me to serve in the military and the National Guard.”
Like the two youths, Medina knows no other country but this one, the one where he worked, raised four kids with his late wife, Sarah, and put his life on the line.
“These kids,” he said before departing, “are no different than I and want to do what I did. Let them.”
Rubén Rosario can be reached at 651-228-5454 or rrosario@ pioneerpress.com. Follow him at twitter.com/nycrican.
