Mr. Speaker. I am introducing today a bill which amends section 344(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 to permit naturalization courts to keep onehalf of all naturalization fees collected without any upper limitation. The law at present requires that clerks of such courts pay over to the Attorney General "onehalf of all fees up to the sum of $6.000.and all fees in excess of $6.000." The result of this provision is that 15 jurisdictions throughout the country collect fees in excess of $6.000 and are able to keep only $3.000 each. returning to the Treasury sums ranging from $3.700 to $29.900. The latest data available indicates that these 15 courts collect a total of $205.000 in naturalization fees. that they retain a total of $45.000. and that they turn over to the Treasury a total of $160.000. My bill would permit all naturalization courts to keep onehalf of the fees they collect. without upper limitation. If this provision is enacted into law. the loss to the U.S. Treasury would be $57.500 annually. White Plains. N.Y.. in my district. is one of those affected by the present limitation in the law. The court processes about 900 petitions for naturalization per year. Of the $22.500 collected. the court is able to keep only $3.000 although the processing costs run to $10.000 annually. The county clerk estimates that the additional sum the court could retain under my bill would be used to meet rising personnel costs and the additional position requested recently to meet increased demand. Mr. Speaker. local government costs are rapidly outpacing the ability of communities to meet the legitimate needs of their citizens. White Plains is proud to play a significant role in the admission of new American citizens. but surely the Federal Treasury. not those jurisdictions which happen to process most naturalization cases. should bear the greatest part of the cost. In addition to White Plains. N.Y.. those courts collecting in excess of $6.000 in naturalization fees are: Oakland. San Jose. and Santa Ana. Calif..
Keywords matched
naturalization Immigration