Mr. President. having tried to rectify some of the discrimination in our present Immigration and Nationality Act in the bills I introduced today. and to reunite more members of families. it is now time to turn our attention to the treatment of immigrants when they seek to acquire citizenship by naturalization. It is our duty to enact laws to see to it that they. as well as citizens. are treated equitably under our laws. The present provision of the Immigration and Nationality Actsection 312requires that. in order to be naturalized. a person must understand. read. write. and speak English. Only persons who were 50 years of age and had been living in the United States for periods totaling at least 20 years when the Immigration and Nationality Act was enacted in 1952 were exempted from that requirement as were those physically unable to comply with the requirement. On the other hand. most States have no literacy requirement for voting. In my own State of Hawaii. the name of a candidate may be printed on the ballot with the Hawaiian or English equivalent or nickname. if the candidate so requests in writing at the time his nomination papers are filedHawaii Revised Statutes. section 11112.
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naturalization Immigration immigrants naturalized