A Gulf War-era Marine who served the United States for seven years and built a life in Florida for more than three decades is now facing deportation by Immigration and Customs Enforcement — to a country that may no longer recognise him as its own. Paul Canton, who enlisted in the US Marine Corps in March 1991 and was honourably discharged in 1998, has exhausted his legal options after a federal judge denied his final appeal in February. He has no criminal record, has US citizen children, and has lived in Ocala, Florida, for the better part of 35 years.
The cruelty of Canton's situation lies in what joining the Marines cost him. When he agreed to serve in the US military, America stripped him of his Australian citizenship — leaving him effectively stateless. Born in New Zealand and raised in Perth, Australia, Canton arrived in the United States as a teenage exchange student, overstayed his visa, and was recruited into the Marines during the Persian Gulf War era. His recruiter, he said, promised him citizenship upon an honourable discharge. 'I was told, if I got an honorable discharge, then I would get citizenship at the end of my tour, automatically,' Canton said. That promise, he has maintained ever since, was never honoured.
