For the same reason that foreign nationals can join the military, including the Coast Guard that has an overlapping mission: it's a nation of immigrants and for centuries until very recently most Americans readily recognized the value and necessity of recruiting foreign people into various posts.

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like_any_other an hour ago | parent [-]

> for centuries until very recently most Americans readily recognized the value and necessity of recruiting foreign people into various posts.

You forgot to mention that, for those centuries, US immigration was effectively whites-only, until the 1965 Hart-Celler act (that politicians promised wouldn't change this!): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hart-Celler_Act

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walrus01 an hour ago | parent | next [-]

And in the same era in Canada: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Immigration_Act,_1923

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_head_tax

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wat10000 20 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Why is this so important to mention here?

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black6 11 minutes ago | parent [-]

Because white westerners tend to assimilate into the culture into which they immigrate, whereas non-whites tend to retain their native culture and prejudices when they immigrate.

	▲	g8oz 4 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		This is ahistorical nonsense.

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jeffbee 42 minutes ago | parent | prev [-]

Lol no. For almost the entire 20th century, until 1992, Filipinos could just join the Navy or Coast Guard at foreign recruiting posts, without even being American residents, then get fast-tracked for citizenship.

	▲	sheafification 39 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		I remember learning about that from Stephenson’s Cryptonomicon, back in the day. It’s not even a US-specific thing. Many countries recruit foreigners to their militaries. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_militaries_that_recrui...