There is this difference between the World War legislation and the legislation before us. This provides that members of our armed forces may be admitted to citizenship through an official of the Department of Justice rather than through a court. although the certificate and other papers are filed in the jurisdiction where the applicant resides. The reason given is that during the World War a great many petitions were filed through representatives of the Department of Immigration and they were never heard in the courts because the soldier thought that because the petition was filed in the court that was the end of it and he was a citizen. So we have tried to take care of that question. Of course. the House can do just as it chooses. We will do the best we can to bring in a clean bill. or if you defeat the Starnes amendment we will try to amend the bill now so that it will be satisfactory. A bill was introduced in the House similar to the bill under consideration. but amendments have been agreed to by members of the Committee on Immigration and Naturalization that would. in my opinion. meet most of the objections that have been raised this afternoon. So the bill approved by our committee would be changed considerably if our amendments are accepted.
Keywords matched
Naturalization Immigration