AND PROCEDURES HEARINGS BEFORE SUBCOMMITTEE II OF THE We Congress I House COMMITTEE ON IMMIGRATION AND NATURALIZATION HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES SEVENTY-NINTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION PURSUANT TO H. R. 52 A BILL AUTHORIZING A COMPLETE STUDY OF 74430 MAY 9, JUNE 4 AND 5, 1945 Printed for the use of the UNITED STATES WASHINGTON: 1945 CONTENTS Witnesses: Thomas B. Shoemaker, Immigration and Naturalization Service...-- Read Lewis, National Council on Naturalization and Citizenship__ Alice W. O'Connor, Department of Education, State of Massachusetts. Edward J. Shaughnessy, Immigration and Naturalization Service___ Paul G. Werner, Immigration and Naturalization Service- - - - Charles Recht, National Federation for Constitutional Liberties_ Carol King, National Lawers' Guild__ Thomas F. Mulholland, National Catholic Welfare Conference_ Perry L. Schneider, Board of Education, New York City. Page I II James E. Riley, Immigration and Naturalization Service. Isidore Englander, American Committee for the Protection of the STUDY OF NATURALIZATION LAWS AND PROCEDURES WEDNESDAY, MAY 9, 1945 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, NATURALIZATION, SUBCOMMITTEE II, The subcommittee convened at 10:30 a. m., Hon. O. C. Fisher (chairman) presiding. Mr. DICKSTEIN. For the purpose of the record, I wish to announce that the Attorney General, Francis Biddle, was kind enough to assign to the committee counsel from the Attorney General's office, who will guide this and other subcommittees in their work; and he has also offered us some additional clerical hire. The Chair has been trying to conserve as much as possible the funds of the committee in order that we may carry on its work. The chairman of subcommittee II, Mr. Fisher, is fixing the date, I understand, of May 31 for this committee to sit in New York to hear representatives of various organizations dealing with this question. The hearing will be held at 70 Columbus Avenue. That is the building, owned by the Government, of the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Mr. Shoemaker, we will hear from you now. STATEMENT OF THOMAS B. SHOEMAKER, DEPUTY COMMISSIONER, IMMIGRATION AND NATURALIZATION, PHILADELPHIA, PA. Mr. DICKSTEIN. Mr. Shoemaker, I am personally very much interested in and I would like to know something about derivative citizenship that has been bothering this committee and a lot of Members. If you recall, Mr. Shoemaker, about a year or a year and a half ago we propounded the same troublesome question, and I think that you testified at that time. Mr. SHOEMAKER. No; I did not. Mr. DICKSTEIN. Well, someone did. There have been many cases from communications which we have received in this committee from Members of Congress, where people have applied for derivative citizenship, and cannot take the examinations until they have gone through the formality. They are boys and girls in civil service, who cannot take the examinations unless they produce special papers showing citizenship derived from their parents. That has been going on for months, and we cannot seem to get anywhere. As a matter of fact, just a few days ago I called the attention of Mr. Shaughnessy to a case where a boy was brought here when he was 5 or 6 years old. The father and mother are citizens. They go to the Civil Service Commission and say, "This is our son," and he had 1 |