Speech #900175039

Speaker. I rise to urge the approval of H.R. 555 pending before us today. This legislation will amend the Immigration and Nationality Act in several ways to remove what I believe to be inequities or inconsistencies in the present law. It will authorize the waiving of the requirement for understanding the English language for anyone wishing to become naturalized who has reached the age of 50 and has lived in the United States for at least 20 years. it will allow individuals acquiring U.S. citizenship at birth in foreign countries to retain that citizenship by taking up residence in the United States before reaching the age of 18. and it will raise the age for automatic acquisition of U.S. citizenship by children through naturalization of parents from 16 to 18 years. I am in thorough accord with the provisions of this legislation and in fact have introduced two bills earlier this year. H.R. 3596 and H.R. 3597. to accomplish the first two amendments set forth in H.R. 555. There were many aliens in my State of Hawaii who. through enactment of Public Law 82414 in 1952. were enabled to acquire citizenship without having to understand the English language. This waiver provision in the 1952 act. however. was limited to those persons who had attained the age of 50 and had lived in this country for 20 years. as of the effective date of the act. Thus any alien born after December 20. 1902. would not be enabled to be naturalized without passing the English language test. There are still many elderly people in Hawaii. Mr. Speaker. who came to this country long after having completed their schooling in the land of their birth. To attain fluency in the language in their declining years. after having spoken their native tongue all their lives. poses a very difficult problem for many of them. and we must keep in mind that Congress recognized in its 1952 action that it concurred in the principle that a person could demonstrate loyalty to this country and an understanding and appreciation of the principles of our way of life even if his naturalization test were conducted in a language other than English. I am not here concerned with young immigrants to our shores. who have ample time and capacity for learning English. but those older aliens who in many cases are moved late in life to demonstrate their allegiance for this country by acquiring American citizenship. The 20year residence requirement I am convinced is a safeguard against injudicious application of this waiver. and I believe that It will be In our best interests to extend the opportunity first enunciated In Public Law 82414 to those resident aliens who have subsequently attained the age of 50 and wish to become citizens of the United States. The second section in H.R. 555 is designed to amend section 301(b) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. which presently requires a child acquiring citizenship at birth abroad of a citizen and alien parent to come to the United States between the ages of 14 and 28 and reside here for 5 continuous years to retain his citizenship. However. a child likewise born of an alien and a citizen parent abroad. which child does not acquire citizenship at birth because of the citizen parents not having met certain U.S. residence requirements before going abroad. may acquire derivative U.S. citizenship if he begins to reside permanently in this country while less than 16 years of age and if his alien parent also becomes a naturalized citizen before the child reaches 16. In this latter case. the individual deriving such citizenship does not have to meet a 5year continuous residence requirement to maintain his status. and thus he is given an advantage over the individual who is a citizen of the United States at birth in a foreign country. H.R. 555 as reported out of the Judiciary Committee will eliminate this inequity by amending the law to read that any person born a citizen of the United States overseas may retain this citizenship if he begins to reside permanently in this country before he is 18 years old and if his alien parent is also naturalized while such person is still under 18. Thus naturalborn citizens of the United States will no longer have to meet the 5year residency requirement that present law imposes upon them. The final two amendments in this legislation will allow children under 18 years of age to acquire U.S. citizenship through the naturalization of their parents. rather than only up to the age of 16 as the law presently reads. These are perfecting amendments recommended by the Department of Justice to bring the statutes into conformity with the Nationality Act of 1940 which was changed by the 1952 act. I would like to commend the Judiciary Committee for taking affirmative action on these matters and for reporting out a bill which I believe highly commendable and deserving of early passage.