Veteran Service Recognition Act of 2022

Floor Speech

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Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 7946, the Veteran Service Recognition Act.

This modest but important legislation would ensure that noncitizen Active-Duty military, veterans, and their families are treated with the dignity and respect befitting the sacrifice they have given to this country.

While military service can offer an expedited pathway to naturalization, many noncitizen servicemembers leave the military without becoming a U.S. citizen because of unnecessarily burdensome requirements that they must meet.

Further, many servicemembers have family members who lack lawful status in the United States with no ability to adjust their status. As a result, while our military personnel are deployed protecting U.S. global interests and keeping our Nation safe, they must worry if their loved ones will be apprehended in an immigration raid and potentially be deported.

This legislation would address this concern and would protect our servicemembers, just as they protect us.

It would, one, establish an advisory committee to review and provide recommendations on the cases of noncitizen veterans, Active servicemembers, and their families who are placed in removal proceedings.

Two, it would direct the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Defense to implement the program that allows noncitizen servicemembers to file for naturalization during basic training or as early as otherwise possible.

Three, it would provide an opportunity for noncitizen veterans who have been removed or ordered removed, and who have not been convicted of serious crimes, to be considered for lawful permanent resident status.

Four, it would allow certain immediate relatives of U.S. citizen servicemembers or veterans in the United States to adjust their status and to obtain a green card as long as they are otherwise admissible.

Despite the rhetoric that we have already heard from our Republican colleagues throughout this debate, I want to make it clear that H.R. 7946 has nothing to do with the border. This legislation is about recognizing and honoring the sacrifice of our servicemembers by supporting them and their families and by giving them the opportunity to become U.S. citizens if they so desire.

I thank Chairman Takano of the Veterans' Affairs Committee, as well as Chair Zoe Lofgren of the Subcommittee on Immigration and Citizenship, for their commitment and leadership on this issue. I was honored to join them in introducing the legislation before us today.

Immigrants have served in our Armed Forces since the founding of our Nation. In return for their service and sacrifice, we promised them, and they have earned, the opportunity to become American citizens.

I hope all of my colleagues will demonstrate their commitment to our servicemembers and our veterans by supporting this important legislation.

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