Political Quotes

“I rise to introduce on behalf of myself, Senator Kennedy, Senator Hatch, Senator DeWine, and Senator Durbin, a short, technical bill to correct a drafting error in last year's immigration bill that could wrongly deny U.S. citizenship to certain children born overseas to a U.S.-citizen parent. To explain the problem addressed by this bill, some background is in order. Prior to 1986, a minor child, born abroad to a U.S.-citizen parent, was eligible for U.S. citizenship if the child's U.S. citizen-parent had physically resided in the United States for at least 10 years prior to the child's birth. The 1986 Immigration bill shortened this residency period to 5 years for children born after its effective date, but perhaps inadvertently retained the 10-year requirement for children born before that date. This double standard yielded anomalous results: In families where the U.S.-citizen parent had resided in the United States for more than 5 years but less than 10, a younger child--born in, say, 1987--would be eligible for U.S. citizenship, while that child's older sibling--born in, say, 1985--would not be.”