Kendell Frederick Citizenship Assistance Act
KENDELL FREDERICK CITIZENSHIP ASSISTANCE ACT -- (House of Representatives - November 06, 2007)
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Ms. ZOE LOFGREN of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
H.R. 2884, the Kendell Frederick Citizenship Assistance Act, pays tribute to the memory of 21-year-old Army Reserve Specialist Kendell K. Frederick, who was killed in Iraq while attempting to become an American citizen.
Specialist Frederick was born in Trinidad and immigrated to the United States when he was 15 to join his mother, stepfather, and two sisters. He attended Randallstown Senior High in Baltimore County, Maryland, where he joined the school's ROTC program. Specialist Frederick enlisted in the Army Reserve in his senior year and was deployed to Iraq in December of 2004. As he was serving our country, Specialist Frederick sought to apply for U.S. citizenship; yet one bureaucratic hurdle after another delayed his application.
First, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service failed to route his application to the unit that processed naturalization applications for members of the military. That agency then rejected his application for failure to pay an application filing fee, despite the fact that active military personnel applying for U.S. citizenship do not need to pay a filing fee.
Thereafter, this agency directed Specialist Frederick to get his fingerprints taken in Maryland, despite the obvious fact that he was deployed in Iraq at the time. Also, he had recently had his fingerprints taken and undergone a background check when he enlisted in the Army Reserve. When his mother called the agency's ``help line,'' she was told that there was nothing that could be done.
After trying for more than a year to become a U.S. citizen and having his application rejected and delayed as a result of various bureaucratic failings, Specialist Frederick was forced to travel on a convoy to a base where he could get his fingerprints taken for his naturalization application. Tragically, he was killed en route by a roadside bomb. Specialist Frederick was posthumously granted U.S. citizenship a week after his death.
H.R. 2884 would remove unnecessary procedural hurdles like the one Specialist Frederick faced for naturalization applicants who are serving or who have recently served in the military. It would require the Department of Homeland Security to use the fingerprints provided by military naturalization applicants at the time of their enlistment in the Armed Forces if the applicants were fingerprinted in accordance with DOD requirements, if the naturalization applications are filed within 24 months of enlistment, and if the fingerprints are deemed sufficient by the Department of Homeland Security for naturalization purposes.
The bill would require DHS to inform a member of the armed services applying for naturalization when submitting new fingerprints would result in a more timely and effective adjudication of the naturalization application along with the description of how to submit the new fingerprints.
It would also ensure that the DOD complies with the requirements of this bill so that fingerprints they hold are sent to DHS. It would clarify the time frame in which DHS is required to publicize changes in regulations and forms regarding the naturalization of members of the Armed Forces. And, finally, it would promote accountability by requiring the GAO to report on the naturalization process for Armed Forces members.
Approximately 35,000 lawful permanent residents are currently serving in our Armed Forces. More than 13,000 noncitizen members of the military have applied for U.S. citizenship since 2002.
This is an excellent bill that will help ensure that from now on, American soldiers do not face the kinds of unnecessary and unreasonable hurdles to American citizenship that cost Specialist Frederick his life.
I urge my colleagues to support the bill and would note that this was passed unanimously out of the House Judiciary Committee. I urge my colleagues, again, to support the bill.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
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