GAINESVILLE, Fla. — U.S. Rep. Gus Bilirakis is a strong veterans' advocate, which is why we thought he should know about the struggle facing Florida veteran Paul Canton.
Canton honorably served in the U.S. Marines, but his quest to become a legal American citizen is closing in on a five-year-long losing battle.
“Every day I wake up, click on my email, hoping to hear from my attorney that I’ve got a court date, and it's just kind of like a bad version of ground Groundhog Day. I’m hoping that today is going to be the day that something changes, and something moves, but every day it seems like a rinse and repeat of nothing moving,” Canton told us recently.
Canton, who was born in New Zealand and raised in Australia, told us over the summer how he was recruited into the United States Marines in the early 1990s, under what he described as the false promise of citizenship when he got out.
“I was told, if I got an honorable discharge, then I would get citizenship at the end of my tour,” he said.
But during a trip to renew his driver's license five years ago in Ocala, Canton learned he wasn’t here legally even though he has lived, worked, and voted in the U.S. for the past three decades.
He’s been fighting for legal status ever since and now hopes the Trump administration could give his citizenship case a fresh look.
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Florida veteran hopeful Donald Trump will help him become US citizen
Which is where Congressman Bilirakis, a longtime Republican lawmaker on Florida’s west coast, could help.
Bilirakis is a strong supporter of President-elect Donald Trump. Bilirakis even earned the incoming president’s coveted political endorsement this year when he ran for re-election.
“I know President Trump pretty well, and he listens,” said Bilirakis.
It’s the kind of political alliance with America’s next president that may help this foreign-born U.S. veteran desperately seeking legal status in the states.
“You have illegal aliens crossing the border that haven't given anything to this country, then you have somebody that has earned the right to receive care from the VA and be called a veteran,” said Bilirakis, who promises to bring up Canton’s case to his GOP leadership.
Bilirakis tells us he plans to talk to Speaker of the House Mike Johnson about expanding the current path to citizenship program for foreign veterans, which limits that path to foreign veterans who serve in the U.S. military during what’s known as a “period of hostility.” Though Canton was recruited during the Persian Gulf War, he wasn’t called for active duty until after that period of hostility officially ended.
Bilirakis also said he will bring up Canton’s case to incoming Veteran Affairs Secretary Doug Collins, whom he calls a “good friend.”
“The incoming VA Secretary is a good friend of mine, so I will bring this up to him and I'd like to look into this further to see what we can do. Sounds like he's [Canton] done enough to earn the citizenship,” Bilirakis said.
The question remains, will America agree?
