Kendell Frederick Citizenship Assistance Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. ZOE LOFGREN of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, S. 2516, the Kendell Frederick Citizenship Assistant 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 years old 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 USCIS failed to route his application to the unit that processes naturalization applications for members of the military. The gentleman then rejected his application for failure to pay an application fee even though active military personnel applying for U.S. citizenship are not required to pay that fee.

Next, the agency directed Specialist Frederick to get his fingerprints taken in Maryland despite the obvious fact that he was deployed in Iraq at the time. Besides, he had recently had his fingerprints taken as part of his background check when he enlisted in the Army Reserve.

But when his mother called the agency's help line, she was told that nothing could be done.

Finally, 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 by his own government, Specialist Frederick was forced to travel on a convoy to a base where he could get his fingerprints taken again 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.

S. 2516 would remove unnecessary procedural hurdles like the ones Specialist Frederick faced for naturalization applications currently or recently serving in the military. Most importantly, it directs Homeland Security to accept fingerprints taken at the time of enlistment as long as they are otherwise acceptable.

The House has already passed legislation similar to S. 2516. It was introduced by Representative ELIJAH CUMMINGS. It was H.R. 2884, the Kendell Frederick Citizenship Act, and passed the House by voice vote on November 6 of last year. There are a few minor differences between the House-passed bill and the Senate bill, but both accomplish the goal of removing these bureaucratic hurdles to our soldiers becoming U.S. citizens.

Therefore, I ask that my colleagues support the passage of this bill so that we can get the bill to the President and signed into law as quickly as possible.

Approximately 45,000 lawful permanent residents are currently serving in our Armed Forces. More than 35,000 noncitizen members of the military have applied for U.S. citizenship since 2002.

This bill is an excellent measure that will help ensure that from now on American soldiers do not face some unnecessary, unreasonable hurdles to American citizenship that cost Specialist Frederick his life. Much more needs to be done to assist America's soldiers with their hassles with our immigration system. But this bill is a good first step, and I urge my colleagues to support it.

I reserve the balance of my time.

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