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[Congressional Record: October 21, 2003 (Extensions)]
[Page E2104]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:cr21oc03-11]
AMERASIAN NATURALIZATION ACT OF 2003
______
HON. ZOE LOFGREN
of california
in the house of representatives
Tuesday, October 21, 2003
Ms. LOFGREN. Mr. Speaker, in the 106th Congress, we passed the Child
Citizenship Act to automatically confer U.S. citizenship on foreign
born children adopted by U.S. citizens. Our immigration law has also
long recognized that children born outside our country to an American
father and a foreign national mother are citizens as long as their
fathers take the steps necessary 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
the Child Citizenship Act or other existing provisions of law.
These are children born in Vietnam to American servicemen and
Vietnamese women during the Vietnam War. They have lived through
devastation during the Vietnam War, have been mistreated by the
Vietnamese government because of their mixed race, and many now live in
the United States, but only as legal permanent residents.
There is no doubt that they are the sons and daughters of American
fathers. We 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 have introduced the
Amerasian Naturalization Act of 2003 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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