Pvt. Escalante, a real citizen-soldier

Last year, President Bush signed an order allowing non-citizens who served in the coming Iraq war to apply for U.S. citizenship on fast-track schedule. Bush's order was meant to apply to the 37,000 green-card soldiers, who were official residents but not citizens.

A question arose: Shall it also apply to illegal non-citizens?

The Army has correctly decided that it does, and now opens the door of citizenship to a soldier who grew up in Seattle and graduated from Chief Sealth High School.

That soldier, Pvt. Juan Escalante, is a citizen of Mexico who entered this country illegally when he was 4 years old. It is difficult to blame him for that.

After graduating from high school here, he obtained a fake green card and enlisted in the Army. When war came, he served in the 1st Brigade, 3rd Division, which led the assault on Iraq. That unit sustained more casualties than any other.

Many things could be said about this story: that Escalante should not have used false ID to deceive the Army recruiter; that his parents should not have brought him here illegally; or that the United States should not pass immigration laws that it does not have the political will to enforce. Illegal immigration is a morass of hypocrisies and contradictions, and living with it, rather than remedying it, confuses us all.

Then comes a moment of clarity: a photo of Pvt. Escalante in Army uniform and the story of his service in Iraq.

Forget the fake ID. Do we want this man as a citizen?

Yes.

His parents, too. Federal authorities have been trying to deport them. Now that their son has earned a place in the United States in the most honorable way possible, federal discretion ought to apply also to his parents.

It might take a very high official to make that happen, but it would be the thing to do.