Alfredo Gonzalez is a doctoral candidate in the department of political science at the University of Chicago. His research is located at the intersection of race and politics, American political development, naturalization policy, and military sociology. In his dissertation, Other Than Honorable: The Decline of Citizenship-for-Service, Gonzalez offers an explanation to the growing limitations and restrictions non-citizen service members are faced with when attempting to normalize their citizenship status during and after their active service. This archival study focuses on a critical conjuncture between WWII (last period guaranteeing citizenship-for-service) and the 1965 Hart-Celler Act (established residency and service requirements for naturalization) to demonstrate how Congress legislatively gained power to restrict, and at times deny, non-white immigrant service members access to naturalization—regardless of military service. With support from the Fund for Latino Scholarship, Gonzalez will gather primary data from the Patrick McCarran archives, author of the 1952 Immigration and Nationality Act, located at the Nevada Historical Society. Gonzalez is a veteran of the United States Marine Corps and served in Iraq during the initial American invasion as an infantry rifleman.
Learn more about the Fund for Latino Scholarship here.