Citizenship for Children of Military Members and Civil Servants Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. DUCKWORTH. Mr. President, I rise today to applaud my colleagues for passing H.R. 4803, Citizenship for Children of Military Members and Civil Servants Act, without amendment by unanimous consent.

Last year, Senator Johnny Isakson joined me in introducing the bipartisan Senate companion to H.R. 4803 to make sure that when children of U.S. citizens serving in the U.S. Armed Forces or working for the U.S. Government are born abroad because their parents are serving our Nation overseas, they automatically acquire U.S. citizenship.

The unanimous passage of the Citizenship for Children of Military Members and Civil Servants Act by the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate sends a strong message that children born to American parents serving our country abroad are just as worthy of automatic citizenship as any other child in this country.

This principle should not be controversial. That is why for the past 15 years, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services considered children of members of the U.S. Armed Forces and Federal Government employees stationed outside the United States to be deemed as ``residing in the United States'' for the purpose of automatically acquiring citizenship.

This policy was pragmatic and cut burdensome redtape for American parents willing to serve our Nation abroad as U.S. servicemembers or civil servants. It provided flexibility and allowed U.S. citizen parents to meet residency requirements for acquisition of citizenship while serving overseas. It kept American parents from cutting their overseas commitment short to establish residency so their children could earn citizenship. This policy allowed their children to enjoy the same privileges of acquiring citizenship, as if their parents were working and living within our country's borders.

However, in August 2019, the Trump administration enacted a policy change to reverse this practice. Under this new policy, certain Americans serving their Nation abroad, in uniform or in the civil service, must apply for citizenship on behalf of their children. These parents now have to navigate a complex bureaucratic process and spend hundreds of dollars on an application, with no guarantee that their children will receive citizenship of the very country they are serving abroad in uniform or as a Federal employee.

In fact, this policy change caused Republican and Democratic lawmakers to recognize that current citizenship laws disadvantage these patriotic families. Our citizenship laws and bureaucratic requirements inflict undue burden on these families and make American parents ``prove'' that their children are worthy of U.S. citizenship.

As a combat veteran, I understand the challenges and family stressors that face Active-Duty members deployed to defend our Nation overseas. Congress should be helping U.S. servicemembers focus on achieving their mission. Providing U.S. servicemembers and civil servants with the peace of mind that they will not have to navigate a lengthy and expensive process to apply for U.S. citizenship for their children advances this important goal.

Our commonsense legislation codifies the previous policy by clarifying the Immigration and Nationality Act to clearly require that children of U.S. citizen parents born in a foreign nation while their parents are stationed abroad automatically acquire U.S. citizenship.

I urge the President to honor the service and dedication of our U.S. servicemembers, military families, and Federal workforce by signing the Citizenship for Children of Military Members and Civil Servants Act into law.

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