Marines Win Posthumous Citizenship

The U.S. awarded citizenship Wednesday to two Southern California Marines who were killed in Iraq, including one who according to records lied about his age to win residency after entering the country illegally.

Lance Cpl. Jose A. Gutierrez of Lomita and Cpl. Jose A. Garibay of Costa Mesa died in the first three days of the war, putting the spotlight on thousands of so-called green card soldiers who have volunteered to fight for their adopted homeland.

The posthumous citizenships were granted as legislators in Sacramento were preparing to debate a resolution urging Congress to grant citizenship to all legal immigrants who are discharged honorably from the armed services.

“They take the ultimate test many Americans never take: picking up arms for this country,” said state Sen. Dean Florez (D-Shafter), who is sponsoring the resolution.

More than 37,000 noncitizens serve in the military, and their numbers have grown about 30% since 2000. Of the first 10 Californians killed in the war, five were noncitizens.

Gutierrez, 28, was stationed at Camp Pendleton. He was believed to be the second U.S. soldier killed when his battalion battled Republican Guard forces March 21 near the port town of Umm al Qasr in southern Iraq.

Gutierrez was orphaned as a boy in Guatemala. He hopped railcars across Mexico and entered the United States illegally in early 1997. He told authorities he was 16, ensuring him special consideration as a minor with no parents. That cleared the way for him to become a dependent of Los Angeles County and receive permanent residency, according to Juvenile Court records unsealed after a request by The Times.

In fact, Gutierrez was 22, according to a certified copy of his birth certificate obtained from the municipal registrar in his home town of Escuintla. Records from an orphanage in Guatemala City where Gutierrez lived for about 10 years also show that he was 22 when arrived in the United States.

Immigration officials said Wednesday that they relied on information provided by Gutierrez, who declared on a federal form in late 1997 that he was an undocumented foster child. He was granted legal residency in February 1998.

“Given the heroic circumstances of the Marine lance corporal’s death, we doubt any new information would negatively affect the request for citizenship,” said Francisco Arcaute, spokesman for the U.S. Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services, formerly the INS.

Gutierrez’s citizenship was requested by his sister Engracia Cirin, his only family member, who filled out the forms with the help of Marines at the U.S. Embassy in Guatemala City, officials said. She will receive no benefits from her brother’s citizenship, which is an honorary status commemorating his heroism.

Cirin, who is in Los Angeles awaiting the arrival of her brother’s body, was unavailable Wednesday for comment. She previously told The Times that Gutierrez was 16 when he entered the United States.

One of Gutierrez’s former foster mothers said he would have been pleased about receiving his citizenship. “He once told me, ‘I was born the day I arrived in this country,’ ” said Martha Espinosa of Gardena.

The other Marine granted citizenship, Garibay, was 21. He came to the United States from a small town in Jalisco, Mexico, when he was 2 months old. The former Newport Harbor High football player died with six other Marines on March 23 during heavy fighting near the city of Nasiriyah.

Immigration officials said Garibay’s mother had requested his citizenship. “I’m happy because he deserves being a citizen,” said his sister Cristal Garibay, speaking on behalf of the family from their Costa Mesa home. An altar of flowers and photos of Garibay in his uniform stood on the porch.

“He was probably more American than Mexican,” his sister said.

There was confusion Wednesday over the status of Marine Pfc. Francisco Martinez, a green card holder from Duarte who died March 25 when his tank plunged into a river in southern Iraq. Marines told the family that he became a citizen earlier this year, according to his sister, Nayeli Martinez. But immigration officials said the Marine had not completed the process, and the family must still request posthumous citizenship.

The family of another Marine killed in Iraq is not expected to seek citizenship. Lance Cpl. Jesus Suarez del Solar of Escondido declined an earlier opportunity to become a citizen, his father said. His son was proud of being Mexican and “didn’t want to lose the ties to the family,” Fernando Suarez del Solar said.

As part of the war on terrorism, President Bush issued a temporary order in July making all green card soldiers immediately eligible for citizenship, eliminating a three-year waiting period. The number of military personnel seeking citizenship has jumped fourfold since, officials say.

Florez wants the California Legislature to support a more generous policy: permanently ensuring that all immigrants are eligible for citizenship when they receive an honorable discharge.

“That’s just the minimum thing we should be giving people who have served,” he said. In the past, soldiers who didn’t complete naturalization during active duty found themselves bogged down later in bureaucracy, he said.

One was Hector Casillas, an East Los Angeles Vietnam veteran who thought he was made a citizen when left the Army in 1967. Years later, he found the paperwork had not been completed. It took him until 1987 to be sworn in.

“You’re part of an American team out there,” he said. “It’s a big disappointment when you have to stand in line to get what you think you deserve.”

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Times staff writers Daniel Hernandez, Anna Gorman and Jessica Garrison contributed to this report.