The Filipino veterans. as a class. were unfairly discriminated against when American citizenship processing was arbitrarily withdrawn from them in 1946. In 1990. 45 years later. Congress included Section 405 In the Immigration Reform Act. to enable Filipino veterans who fought for the American side during World War II to apply for naturalization. This was a significant step toward redeeming the dignity of the forgotten Filipinos. but several Important issues were not addressed in the act. Section 405 is scheduled to expire on November 29th. 1992. Of the 60.000 veterans that the INS estimated would file for naturalization. only about 12.500. or 21 percent have applied. The reasons for this small number Include: a lack of dissemination of information about the application process. the expense of coming to the U.S. for the interview process. and. the fact that the INS took 11z years to put in place the regulations for the process and delayed Interviewing applicants until October. 1991. My bill would enable eligible veterans to be Interviewed and take the oath of naturalization In the Philippines. Because the majority of the Filipino veterans live at the poverty level. and many are already very old. requiring them to travel to the U.S. imposes a severe financial and physical burden. They deserve better. The Filipino Veterans Equity Act of 1992 would also provide for a special immigrant status for immediate relatives of Filipino veterans. If the Filipino veterans had not been deprived of the naturalization process in 1945. their children would already be U.S. citizens today. Currently. the veterans must petition to bring their children here. which takes up to 15 years. These brave veterans and their families have waited long enough.
Keywords matched
naturalization Immigration immigrant