[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3480 Introduced in House (IH)]






108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3480

    To require the construction at Arlington National Cemetery of a 
memorial to noncitizens killed in the line of duty while serving in the 
             Armed Forces of the United States of America.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            November 7, 2003

 Mr. Cunningham (for himself and Ms. Harman) introduced the following 
     bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To require the construction at Arlington National Cemetery of a 
memorial to noncitizens killed in the line of duty while serving in the 
             Armed Forces of the United States of America.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Memorial to Noncitizen Patriots 
Act''.

SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS.

    (a) The Congress finds the following:
            (1) There is a long history of noncitizens serving in the 
        Armed Forces of the United States of America.
            (2) Noncitizens have been engaged in American battles since 
        the Colonial period, both as volunteers and conscripts.
            (3) George Washington, a British subject, led our American 
        Revolution and the Marquis de Lafayette, a citizen of France, 
        and hundreds of other noncitizens helped win our independence.
            (4) In the War of 1812, some Irish nationals helped the 
        United States fight British invaders.
            (5) Thousands of noncitizens fought for the Union Army in 
        the Civil War.
            (6) Roughly one in five wartime draftees during World War I 
        was foreign-born, and approximately 9 percent were noncitizens.
            (7) According to one recent study, more than 20 percent of 
        the 3,400 members of the Armed Forces who have been awarded the 
        Medal of Honor, the Nation's highest military honor, were 
        immigrants, though the precise number of noncitizens who 
        received this award is not known.
            (8) Today, 36,177 members of the Armed Forces are 
        noncitizens, making up about 5 percent of active duty members, 
        and 12,132 members of the Selected Reserve are noncitizens.
            (9) About a third of today's noncitizen members of the 
        Armed Forces come from Mexico and other Spanish-speaking 
        countries and the rest are from the Philippines, China, 
        Vietnam, Canada, Korea, India, and other countries.
            (10) These men and women in uniform, born in other 
        countries, now spend each day in honorable service to their 
        adopted land.
            (11) These men and women love the United States and show it 
        in their daily devotion to duty.
            (12) The role of noncitizen members of the Armed Forces 
        recently received widespread attention when a noncitizen from 
        Guatemala became the second American member of the Armed Forces 
        to die in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
            (13) Noncitizen members of the Armed Forces from Mexico, 
        Colombia, the Republic of the Philippines, Scotland, Guyana, 
        the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Poland have 
        also given their lives in the line of duty in Iraq.
            (14) The sacrifice that these and other noncitizens have 
        made for their adopted country deserves special recognition and 
        appreciation.
            (15) Among the special recognitions a grateful nation can 
        confer is establishment of a memorial to those noncitizens 
        killed in the line of duty while serving in the Armed Forces of 
        the United States.

SEC. 3. CONSTRUCTION OF MEMORIAL TO NONCITIZENS KILLED IN THE LINE OF 
              DUTY WHILE SERVING IN THE ARMED FORCES OF THE UNITED 
              STATES.

    (a) Construction Required.--The Secretary of the Army shall, in 
consultation with the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, construct at an 
appropriate place in Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia, a memorial 
marker honoring the service and sacrifice of noncitizens killed in the 
line of duty while serving in the Armed Forces of the United States.
    (b) Availability of Funds.--There is authorized to be appropriated 
to the Secretary of the Army $500,000 for the design and construction 
of the memorial marker required by subsection (a).

SEC. 4. DONATIONS FOR MEMORIAL TO NONCITIZENS KILLED IN THE LINE OF 
              DUTY WHILE SERVING IN THE ARMED FORCES OF THE UNITED 
              STATES.

    (a) Authority to Accept Donations.--The Secretary of Veterans 
Affairs may accept gifts and donations of services, money, and property 
(including personal, tangible, or intangible property) for the purpose 
of constructing an appropriate memorial or monument to noncitizens 
killed in the line of duty while serving in the Armed Forces of the 
United States, whether such memorial or monument is constructed by the 
Secretary or is the memorial marker required by section 3.
    (b) Transfer.--(1) The Secretary of Veterans Affairs may transfer 
to the Secretary of the Army any services, money, or property accepted 
by the Secretary under subsection (a) for the purpose of the 
construction of the memorial marker required by section 3.
    (2) Any moneys transferred to the Secretary of the Army under 
paragraph (1) shall be merged with amounts appropriated pursuant to the 
authorization provided in section 3(b), and shall be available for the 
purpose referred to in that section.
    (c) Expiration of Authority.--The authority of the Secretary of 
Veterans Affairs to accept gifts and donations under subsection (a) 
shall expire five years after the date of the enactment of this Act.
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