Speaker. I urge my colleagues to join the members of the Judiciary Committee in supporting this long overdue legislation. Simply stated. the bill would exempt from the requirement of understanding English. any alien over 50 years of age who has resided in the United States for 20 years and who meets all other requirements of our naturalization laws. Quite frankly. the current law limiting this provision to individuals who immigrated to the United States in 1932 or before makes no sense at all in 1974. However. the enactment of this legislation would permit many parents and grandparents of U.S. citizens to enjoy the rights and privileges of citizenship which I feel they have earned. To continue to deny citizenship to 20year residents whose only handicap is an inability to understand English speaks more loudly of our Governments failure to provide adequate bilingual education programs than it does of anything else.
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naturalization immigrated