Speech #1050001162

Mr. President. section 405 of the Immigration Act of 1990 was enacted to make naturalization under section 329 of the Immigration and Nationality Act available to those Filipino World War II veterans whose military service during the liberation of the Philippines makes them deserving of United States citizenship. The naturalization authority to allow the veterans to be naturalized in the Philippines was first granted under Section 113 of the fiscal year 1993 Departments of Commerce. Justice. State. Judiciary and related agencies appropriations bill. The original intent of Congress in providing the Immigration and Naturalization Service [INS] with the authority to naturalize applicants in the Philippines was to relieve the unnecessary hardships that section 405 applicants would encounter by having to travel to the United States for an interview and naturalization cermony. since many are elderly and have no relatives in the United States. The initial period for filing an application under this provision was from November 29. 1990 to November 30. 1992. Section 113 firther extended the filing period to February 3. 1995. Unfortunately. the authority to naturalize applicants in the Philippines has now expired. The legislation I am introducing today would Immediately restore. for a 5year period. the authority for the U.S. Embassy in Manila to complete the naturalization process of approximately 12.000 remaining applications which were properly filed under section 405 of the 1990 Act. The legislation does not extend the application period. The legislation also makes clear that naturalization is available only to those applicants who were found by the Recovered Personnel Division of the U.S. Army and the Guerrilla Affairs Division of the U.S. Army to deserve benefits from the U.S.