[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 72 (Thursday, May 26, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1119]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    THE AMERASIAN NATURALIZATION ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. ZOE LOFGREN

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 26, 2005

  Ms. ZOE LOFGREN of California. Mr. Speaker, our immigration law has 
long recognized that children born outside our country to an American 
father and a foreign national mother are U.S. citizens as long as their 
fathers take necessary steps to achieve their child's citizenship.
  Unfortunately, there remains a group of forgotten sons and daughters 
who, despite being born to American fathers, cannot take advantage of 
this existing provision of the law to become U.S. citizens. These are 
the offspring of American servicemen and Asian women during the Vietnam 
and Korean Wars whose fathers did not take the steps of acknowledging 
paternity necessary to make their offspring citizens. However, the 
American government did that for them by acknowledging that their 
fathers were American citizens.
  Many of these individuals have lived through devastation during war, 
have been mistreated by their governments because of their mixed race, 
and many now live in the United States, but only as legal permanent 
residents.
  There is no doubt that Amerasians are the sons and daughters of 
American fathers. Our American government already made that 
determination when we admitted them to the United States as legal 
permanent residents.
  To correct this unfair inequality in our law, I am introducing the 
Amerasian Naturalization Act, along with bipartisan cosponsors, to 
ensure that Amerasians are accorded U.S. citizenship just like the 
offspring of other American fathers are.
  I hope this Congress will act swiftly and pass the Amerasian 
Naturalization Act. It is time for us to finally close a chapter in our 
history that has too long denied Amerasians the opportunity to become 
citizens and be recognized as the Americans that they are.

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