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House Passes Legislation from Cummings to Eliminate Bureaucratic Bungling
Kendell Frederick Bill removes obstacles for non-citizens in the military seeking naturalization
Washington, DC—The U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation today introduced by Congressman Elijah E. Cummings, member of the House Armed Services Committee, which will expedite the citizenship process for over 45,000 non-citizens serving in the U.S. military.
“Taking up arms to defend our nation and help secure freedom is an act of service made even more meaningful when this great sacrifice is made by soldiers not born in the United States,” Congressman Cummings said. “When people are willing to fight relentlessly on the battlefield to protect our great nation, they should not also be forced to battle through a drawn-out citizenship process full of unnecessary red tape.”
The Kendell Frederick Citizenship Assistance Act of 2007, H.R. 2884, enacts the following common sense guidelines to eliminate bureaucratic obstacles for obtaining citizenship while serving in the U.S. military:
- Directs the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to use fingerprints provided by individuals at the time of enlistment to satisfy any fingerprint requirements as part of an application for naturalization.
- Ensures that enlistment fingerprints are provided in an acceptable form for the naturalization process once the application for citizenship is submitted.
- Requires DHS to update any applications, instructions and guidebooks, and the DHS website when naturalization procedures pertaining to members of the military are changed.
Importantly, the bill does not change any existing safeguards in the naturalization process that prevent abuse of the process by those seeking to harm our country.
“When non-citizens embrace our nation by risking their lives to protect it, we should fully embrace them in return by ensuring that the citizenship process is one of ease—not of bureaucratic bungling,” Congressman Cummings said. “There is absolutely no excuse for allowing men and women to risk their lives without also allowing their requests for citizenship to be processed expeditiously.”
Congressman Cummings introduced H.R. 2884 to honor the memory of Army Reserve Specialist Kendell K. Frederick, a 21-year-old resident of Baltimore County and native of Trinidad who was derailed in obtaining his citizenship due to a number of bureaucratic errors. For more than a year, Spc. Frederick was victim to government misinformation and miscommunication, resulting in his naturalization application being delayed multiple times. On October 19, 2005, he was killed by a roadside bomb in Baghdad while traveling to be re-fingerprinted for his application.
“Losing our soldiers is a consequence of war that none of us wants to face. What makes this loss especially painful is that it should never have happened,” Congressman Cummings said. “Spc. Frederick gave his life while showing his gratitude to this country by trying to become one of its own. Today, the House of Representatives sent a clear message that when people take it upon themselves to perform heroic acts for our country before becoming citizens, we will do everything in our power to ensure they can attain citizenship in an expeditious fashion.”
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