Rep. Mike Coffman advocates opening U.S. military service to young illegal aliens who have qualified for President Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals amnesty (“deferred action” means deferred deportation). Under the Obama DACA program, those young men and women are given a two-year legal status and a work permit, but they do not have permanent legal status or a path to citizenship. Rep. Coffman’s proposal would give them both.

Yes, it is accurate to speak of Coffman’s new recruits as “replacements,” unless Rep. Coffman has discovered yet another “job Americans won’t do.” Just the opposite is true: The military services are having no difficulty in meeting their annual recruitment goals with citizens and legal immigrants. In fact, there are far more young Americans seeking a military career than military slots available.

There is a double whammy in Rep. Coffman’s proposal because President Obama has been steadily reducing the size of our military forces. Now Rep. Coffman wants to give some of those slots to illegal aliens at a time when the slots are diminishing.

The Pentagon’s U.S. Army’s troop strength target for 2014 was reduced from 522,000 to 490,000, a decrease of 32,000, or 6 percent, in a single year. All four service branches are experiencing similar reductions in recruitment goals. Compare the Marine’s 2013 goal of 32,200 to its 2008 goal of 37,967 – a decrease of 5,767, or over 1,000 each year.

Even assuming that some of the DACA temporarily eligible young men and women can meet the same high standards as every other recruit, the fact remains they are replacing young citizens and legal immigrants who are applying for those dwindling slots.

Since recruitment into the military services is not a problem, there is no demonstrable military need to move in the direction Rep. Coffman is proposing. However, there is an obvious political purpose to be served, and, sadly, Coffman is one of the leaders of that unfortunate parade. If a Republican-controlled Congress were to enact this new entitlement, Republicans would be granting both legal and moral legitimacy to Obama’s unconstitutional “executive amnesty.” That is the real purpose behind this misadventure.

Let’s keep the military out of the immigration debate and preserve those enlistment slots for citizens and legal immigrants who are already waiting in line for them.

Tom Tancredo represented Colorado’s 6th Congressional District for five terms. He lives in Lakewood.