[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 54 (Wednesday, April 30, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Page S3846]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. ABRAHAM (for himself, Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Hatch, Mr. DeWine, 
        and Mr. Durbin):
  S. 670. A bill to amend the Immigration and Nationality Technical 
Corrections Act of 1994 to eliminate the special transition rule for 
issuance of a certificate of citizenship for certain children born 
outside the United States; to the Committee on the Judiciary.


  technical corrections legislation concerning children born overseas

  Mr. ABRAHAM. Mr. President, I rise to introduce on behalf of myself, 
Senator Kennedy, Senator Hatch, Senator DeWine, and Senator Durbin, a 
short, technical bill to correct a drafting error in last year's 
immigration bill that could wrongly deny U.S. citizenship to certain 
children born overseas to a U.S.-citizen parent.
  To explain the problem addressed by this bill, some background is in 
order. Prior to 1986, a minor child, born abroad to a U.S.-citizen 
parent, was eligible for U.S. citizenship if the child's U.S. citizen-
parent had physically resided in the United States for at least 10 
years prior to the child's birth. The 1986 Immigration bill shortened 
this residency period to 5 years for children born after its effective 
date, but perhaps inadvertently retained the 10-year requirement for 
children born before that date.
  This double standard yielded anomalous results: In families where the 
U.S.-citizen parent had resided in the United States for more than 5 
years but less than 10, a younger child--born in, say, 1987--would be 
eligible for U.S. citizenship, while that child's older sibling--born 
in, say, 1985--would not be. To eliminate this disparity, the 
Immigration and Nationality Technical Corrections Act of 1994 amended 
the relevant provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act to 
establish a uniform 5-year residency requirement, without regard to the 
date of the child's birth.
  A provision in last year's immigration bill, however, effectively 
repealed the 1994 amendment described above, thus restoring the prior 
double standard. There was, of course, no policy basis for this change, 
and no one has claimed ownership of it. The change appears to have 
simply been a drafting error in a purely technical section of last 
year's bill.
  This error needs to be corrected without delay. Once a child turns 
18, he is no longer eligible to become a U.S. citizen under the 
Immigration and Nationality Act provision that was affected by the 
drafting error. Thus, children who turn 18 before this error is 
corrected will be permanently ineligible to become U.S. citizens under 
the provision at issue. The longer this error goes uncorrected, the 
greater the number of children who will be harmed by it.
  I therefore hope this bill can be passed without delay or 
controversy, and I will be working with my colleagues on both sides of 
the aisle to that end.
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