[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 192 (Tuesday, December 3, 2019)]
[House]
[Pages H9188-H9189]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CITIZENSHIP FOR CHILDREN OF MILITARY MEMBERS AND CIVIL SERVANTS ACT
Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the
bill (H.R. 4803) to facilitate the automatic acquisition of citizenship
for lawful permanent resident children of military and Federal
Government personnel residing abroad, and for other purposes, as
amended.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 4803
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 ``Citizenship for Children of
Military Members and Civil Servants Act''.
SEC. 2. FACILITATING THE AUTOMATIC ACQUISITION OF CITIZENSHIP
FOR LAWFUL PERMANENT RESIDENT CHILDREN OF
MILITARY AND FEDERAL GOVERNMENT PERSONNEL
RESIDING ABROAD.
(a) In General.--Section 320 of the Immigration and
Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1431) is amended--
(1) by striking the section header and inserting ``children
born outside the united states and lawfully admitted for
permanent residence; conditions under which citizenship
automatically acquired'';
(2) by redesignating subsection (c) as subsection (d); and
(3) by inserting after subsection (b) the following:
``(c) Subsection (a)(3) is deemed satisfied in the case of
a child who is lawfully admitted for permanent residence in
the United States if--
``(1) the child is residing in the legal and physical
custody of a citizen parent who is--
``(A) stationed and residing abroad as an employee of the
Government of the United States; or
``(B) residing abroad in marital union with an employee of
the Government of the United States who is stationed abroad;
or
``(2) the child is--
``(A) residing in the legal and physical custody of a
citizen parent who is--
``(i) stationed and residing abroad as a member of the
Armed Forces of the United States; or
``(ii) authorized to accompany and reside abroad with a
member of the Armed Forces of the United States pursuant to
the member's official orders, and is so accompanying and
residing abroad with the member in marital union; and
``(B) authorized to accompany such member and reside abroad
with the member pursuant to the member's official orders, and
is so accompanying and residing with the member.''.
(b) Conforming Amendment.--The table of contents for the
Immigration and Nationality Act is amended by striking the
item relating to section 320 and inserting the following:
``Sec. 320. Children born outside the United States and lawfully
admitted for permanent residence; conditions under which
citizenship automatically acquired.''.
SEC. 3. DETERMINATION OF BUDGETARY EFFECTS.
The budgetary effects of this Act, for the purpose of
complying with the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010, shall
be determined by reference to the latest statement titled
``Budgetary Effects of PAYGO Legislation'' for this Act,
submitted for printing in the Congressional Record by the
Chairman of the House Budget Committee, provided that such
statement has been submitted prior to the vote on passage.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from New
York (Mr. Nadler) and the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Cline) each will
control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New York.
General Leave
Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include
extraneous material on the bill under consideration.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from New York?
There was no objection.
Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to urge my colleagues on both sides of the
aisle to support H.R. 4803, the Citizenship for Children of Military
Members and Civil Servants Act. This bipartisan legislation provides a
simple solution to ease the burdens imposed by our current citizenship
laws on those who have chosen to serve our Nation abroad, and their
children.
Most children who are born outside the United States to U.S. citizen
parents are deemed U.S. citizens at birth. But under our current
citizenship laws, this process can be more complicated for children
whose parents don't meet certain bureaucratic requirements related to
residency, a concept that is generally defined according to where one
physically resides.
This often affects military families and certain other Federal
employees serving abroad. As a result, when establishing U.S. residency
is not possible because of a parent's overseas service to the Nation,
these families, who make great sacrifices for our country, are at a
disadvantage.
Without access to a streamlined citizenship process, parents must
either guide their children through a lengthy and expensive
naturalization process or find some alternative way to establish U.S.
residency, which may even require them to cut short their overseas
service commitment to the armed services.
In August, Members on both sides of the aisle were taken aback by the
administration's reversal of a 15-year-old policy that allowed families
of military servicemembers and Federal Government employees to meet the
residency requirement for acquisition of citizenship purposes while
serving abroad.
H.R. 4803 will implement a small but important fix to our citizenship
laws by restoring and codifying the previous policy and bringing
consistency to what were once differing policy provisions between the
Department of Homeland Security and the Department of State.
H.R. 4803 will provide greater flexibility to individuals who have
dedicated their lives and careers to serving our Nation by treating
their children like other children of U.S. citizens who were born
overseas, allowing them to be automatically recognized as U.S. citizens
once certain conditions are met.
H.R. 4803 will thus eliminate the inconvenience, expense, and delays
of the naturalization process that such children are required to
undergo under current law and allow their parents to continue serving
our Nation in the military without interruption.
I want to thank the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Collins), my friend
and colleague, for partnering with me on this commonsense, bipartisan
fix, as
[[Page H9189]]
well as Chairman Smith, Ranking Member Thornberry, Subcommittee Chair
Lofgren, Subcommittee Ranking Member Buck, along with Mr. Gallego and
Mr. Lieu. I appreciate their willingness to work across the aisle and
to demonstrate that it is possible to find common ground on some
immigration and nationality issues.
I urge my colleagues to support this bipartisan legislation, and I
reserve balance of my time.
Mr. CLINE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 4803, the
Citizenship for Children of Military Members and Civil Servants Act.
Most people believe that, in all circumstances, as long as one parent
is a U.S. citizen, a child is automatically a U.S. citizen. In reality,
the Immigration and Nationality Act lays out specific residency,
physical presence, and other requirements for when a child is deemed a
U.S. citizen and what procedures a parent must go through to claim that
citizenship.
For instance, section 320 of the INA requires that a child of a U.S.
citizen automatically becomes a U.S. citizen if the child is under the
age of 18 and is ``residing in the United States in the legal and
physical custody of the citizen pursuant to a lawful admission for
permanent residence.''
This creates a problem for some U.S. citizens and their families who
are serving overseas in the military or other U.S. Government positions
and who cannot return to the United States.
Until very recently, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services,
USCIS, had been interpreting the term ``residing in'' to cover children
of U.S. citizen government employees or members of the U.S. Armed
Forces who were employed or stationed outside the U.S. That
interpretation, however, was inconsistent with other parts of the INA
and inconsistent, even, with the State Department's interpretation.
Thus, there were instances when a U.S. citizen parent was told by
USCIS that their child was automatically a U.S. citizen, but when the
parent tried to obtain a U.S. passport for the child, they were told
that the child was not yet a U.S. citizen because the proper process
had not been followed.
In late August, USCIS issued policy guidance aimed at correctly
interpreting ``residing in'' to be consistent with the INA and the
State Department's interpretation.
It should be noted that, even if H.R. 4803 is not enacted, the
children affected by USCIS' new guidance will still be able to claim
U.S. citizenship; however, their families will have to jump through
many more hoops to do so.
Luckily, this issue affects fewer than 100 families per year, most of
whom are cases of adoption or where the child is a teenager when the
parent naturalizes.
USCIS was legally correct to do what it did, but we in Congress are
also right to make the technical change that allows the affected child
to be automatically considered a U.S. citizen.
The committee ranking member worked closely with Chairman Nadler to
craft H.R. 4803. The bill deems the child of a U.S. citizen parent to
be in compliance with the residence requirements of INA section 320 in
circumstances where: one, the U.S. citizen parent is an employee of the
U.S. Government stationed abroad or a spouse of that employee residing
abroad with that employee; or, two, the U.S. citizen parent is a member
of the Armed Forces stationed abroad or spouse of that member residing
abroad with that member, and the child is authorized to and is
accompanying the member.
The bill ensures that children of U.S. Armed Forces members and U.S.
Government personnel are not disadvantaged merely because their
parents' service to our country requires them to be deployed abroad.
I am pleased that the legislative process worked as it should, that
Republicans and Democrats saw a legal issue that needed to be fixed and
we worked together to pass the affecting legislation.
I urge my colleagues to support the bill, and I yield back the
balance of my time.
Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
This bipartisan legislation would provide greater flexibility and
support to those who have dedicated their careers to serving our Nation
when they have children born abroad.
I again thank my colleagues for the bipartisan nature of the work and
support of this bill. I urge all my colleagues to support the bill, and
I yield back the balance of my time.
Ms. JACKSON LEE. Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R.
4803, the Citizenship for Children of Military Members and Civil
Servants Act.
I applaud Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) and House
Judiciary Ranking Member Doug Collins (R-GA) for introducing this
bipartisan legislation aimed to fix a problem in current citizenship
laws.
The current citizenship law implemented by this Administration in
October, serves as a disadvantage to certain children who are born
abroad and reside with a parent serving overseas in the military or as
a federal government employee.
Under current law, such children are required to establish U.S.
residency in order to obtain citizenship, which can be difficult when a
parent is stationed overseas.
This small but important change is the necessary fix for U.S. armed
forces and in federal government positions overseas.
I am glad we could work together to introduce this bipartisan
legislation that provides greater flexibility and support to those who
have dedicated their careers to serving our nation.
American citizens who are deployed members of our military or
government officials working abroad should have confidence their
children will receive U.S. citizenship.
Military families are already making tremendous sacrifices to serve
our country abroad and the children should not have to be penalized.
I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 4803 because our
military families should not have to deal with the bureaucracy of this
Administration for their children to be United States citizens.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from New York (Mr. Nadler) that the House suspend the rules
and pass the bill, H.R. 4803, as amended.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the
rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
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