Mitch Landrieu: “I would like to speak to an amendment designed to clarify existing immigration law and ease the burden on families sent…”

“I would like to speak to an amendment designed to clarify existing immigration law and ease the burden on families sent abroad in service to the United States. Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, there is normally a 3-year residence requirement for spouses of U.S. citizens to be naturalized. Section 319 (B)(3) waives that requirement for applicants whose citizen spouses are ordered abroad by our Government to keep families intact while certain members do their duty to our country, wherever in the world that may require them to go. The same law rightly places value on cohabitation between spouses in requiring that applicants spend no more than 45 days away from their citizen spouse. The waiver provided under existing law is clearly intended to prevent our Government from splitting up families whose members are in the service of this country for the mere purpose of satisfying shortsighted antifamily regulations. Yet that is exactly what has occurred as a result of the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services' overly narrow interpretation of this law. I wish to briefly tell you a story about two constituents of mine, a husband and wife from New Orleans, who were subjected to this particular fate. Brett Schexnider has served as an Active-Duty officer in the Armed Forces for more than 20 years, and holds the rank of commander in the U.S. Navy. Commander Schexnider married his wife Gisele in March of 1999.…”