Our witnesses we proceed to the hearing and i think many of us would like to say a comment about the late john conyers who was a member of this committee for many decades who gave his life to Public Service and who passed away just a few days ago while serving his country both in the armed forces and in the congress. We do more in his passing and it would be not in keeping with our traditions to proceed without at least giving our condolences to his family and to those who sent him to congress. I would like to recognize mr. Nadler for remarks. Thank you madam chairperson. People are mourning the loss of john conyers but nowhere is his loss felt more deeply than here in the Judiciary Committee where he served for more than 50 years as a member of this committee including more than 20 years as either chairman or Ranking Member. John conyers was a true champion for civil rights and a justice for the oppressed and disenfranchised. Prior to service was on the forefront of the Civil Rights Movement and was in alabama for the freedom day bodine drive in congress endorsed and once in office he hired rosa parks and when her civil rights activism caused other employers to shun her. Throughout his career he was a leader of progressive causes even if it was a lonely pursuit. He first introduced ledges asian for the reparations of slavery and jim crow back in 1989. He worked across the aisle and enacted Bipartisan Legislation such as the violence against women act, usa freedom act and the Voting Rights act. As a leader on the Judiciary CommitteeCongress Conyers and past important legislation such as age crimes legislation and the innocent protection act. His he was a Founding Member of the critic and congressional black benefited from his wisdom and grace. He was my colleague, my friend. Im honored to follow in his footsteps as he as we attempt to carry out his legacy. Under all those we are heavy with his loss that we have lost the benefit of his leadership. The gentleman yields back. I now recognize the Ranking Member for the full committee for his statement. Thank you. I echo the chairmans statements about the long list of accomplishments that the statements that he made but i choose to emphasize what he accomplished from his time as chair and his Ranking Member whenever to him and the thing i remember the most is kindness, sense of humor and his dress and his sharpest dresser always in the room especially on coattails and one of the highlights was a few years ago when we went to detroit and he was host for that. It was a meantime to show his city and where he came from. The last memory i will hold dearest was when you get to washington youre amazed and i can remember leaving this committee and going to the floor for a vote and we went to number, back to the hearing room and it happened to be me and him and i had been here a month or two so i was introducing myself and he said youre from georgia and i said yes, sir. I said you been here a long time so what brought you and i said ill ask this question but what do you to congress and he started chuckling. He said i really wanted to come to a part of the Jury Committee to work on Voting Rights act of 1964. I laughed and i said you realize thats two years before i was born and he said yep, ive been here a while. Stick and we would be remiss. The gentleman yields back and all members will be invited to cement whatever comment they would like to make at this time. It is my pleasure to welcome everyone to this afternoons hearing on the impact of the current immigration policies on Service Members, veterans and their families. Over the last two and half years the meditation has implanted numerous policy changes that have made life more difficult for noncitizen members of the armed forces, veterans and their families enforcement as well as the elimination of prosecutorial discretion when it comes to migration endorsement has resulted in the removal or attempted removal of far too many lawful, permanent veterans who honorably served our country but struggled with the transition back to civilian life, some who were disabled by ptsd. This hearing will allow the subcommittee to explore how these policy changes can be unforgiving and how they have impacted activeduty Service Members with veterans and their families. At this point, i would like to, without objection, ignite my colleague as a champion of this fear important issue for who will preside over this hearing in whom i yield the remainder of my time for his opening statement. Good afternoon. Without objection first i would like to request permission to cement these letters as part of the record. These letters on current immigration policies on the service, veterans and their families. First of all let me thank my colleague representative for her leadership and i appreciate the opportunity to preside over this most important hearing today and as we approach veterans day we have to recognize and honor all our veterans including immigrant veterans that served our country honorably in the armed forces from the revolutionary war to the recent conflicts in afghanistan and iraq. Today there are over half a million foreignborn veterans in the United States. As recently as 2012 there were 24000 immigrants part philippines, mexico, mexico, jamaica are accounted for the greatest number of where they were born they are americans in every sense of the word who was in mexico. The corporal was killed in action in 2003 after iraq he forces pretending to surrender and ambushed him and his fellow. The corporal was post to muesli given american citizenship. He chose to defend his country as a marine and made the ultimate sacrifice. He was a dreamer. The United States a country they love we have an allegation to uphold their promise to provide for these patriots with american citizenship. That since 1996 thousands of noncitizen veterans who took the oath of allegiance and were honorably discharged have been deported. No one put the uniform on and is honorably discharged should be subject to deportation. As every soldier knows, you never leave a soldier behind. Sadly, the u. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement or ice does not follow policy for solving cases of potentially removable veterans does not always identify and track such veterans. As a result, ice does not know how many veterans it has deported. Recently the admin attrition has adopted policies that have affected the naturalization process for military Service Members and veterans. As a result military naturalizations have decreased by 44 from 7300 fiscal year 2017 to about 4000 fiscal year 2018. In august of 2019 u. S. Citizenship and Immigration Service announced a change definition of the term resident. In fact, children born to certain u. S. Service members stationed abroad will now be required to naturalize under a lengthier and more complicated application process. Together with my colleague representative of texas we left a letter to the u. S. Citizenship and Immigration Service with acting director, asking for reconsideration of this policy. Without objection i would like to cement that letter as part of this record. In total the policy changes negatively affect military recruitment and effectiveness and turn our back on immigrant servicemembers, veterans and their families. This is unacceptable and we need to correct the situation. I look forward to hearing our witnesses. It is my pleasure to introduce the gentleman from colorado for an opening statement. Thank you. Immigrants have recognize their sacrifice congress provided in law for the expedited naturalization of Foreign Nationals which includes september 11, 2001 naturalization is voluntary for naturalization must apply for it, receive a variable adjudication and take the oath of allegiance to become a naturalized u. S. Citizen. As part of the process the apartment of defense must defy Honorable Service alien has met the time in service or garments. In most cases the 180 days. This policy that the servicemember has served honorably as required statute. October 1, the united state citizen and Inpatient Services has nationalized a proximally 130,000 members of the abroad. Today we will discuss the difficult issue of noncitizen vetted veterans who been removed from the United States. Supported to know if no one is above the legal consequent is of their behavior. The cases of that has been a place for several administrations and with sensitivity to those who may have suffered from Mental Health problems due to their service. Im also honored to be an original cosponsor with bringing member collins of hr 4803 the citizenship for military children its a bipartisan bill to make the technical change for the requirements of section 320 the immigration and naturalization act. This will ensure the children of the u. S. Armed forces, members stationed abroad will automatically acquire citizenship for all of the requirements are and will make sure they are not disadvantaged civilly because they u. S. Citizen parent is stationed abroad. Introduced hr 4803 earlier this month and im proud of her work on this bill than the chose when a change i look forward to hearing from the witnesses and youll back the balance of my time. I will now recognize the chairman of the committee for his opening statement. Thank you. Immigrants have served in the u. S. Armed forces in every major conflict since the revolutionary war. According to the Bipartisan Policy Center in 2016 a proximally 511,000 foreignborn veterans in the armed forces residing in the United States. Immigrants make up a substantial portion of the veteran population and every day brave men and women risk their lives. We rely on it to keep their safe and provide stability to fragile regions their sacrifices and make sure their families are supported to give them every opportunity to become u. S. Citizens. Fortunately, as a result of the unproven giving nature of our Immigration Laws numerous policy changes limited by the Trump Administration appears the opposite is happening. Under the Trump Administration the deferment of defense u. S. Citizenship and Immigration Services have implemented numerous policy changes that undermine congress to provide an expedited naturalization process for Service Members and veterans october, 2017 they cannot receive certification of Honorable Service. Document which was essential to expedite the naturalization process and previously certifications can be issued as soon however one must First Complete 180 days of service and one year in the selected reserve. In addition certifications could previously have been issued by any supervising officer and now must be certified by the secretary of the Military Branch for a commissioned officer. These changes are unnecessary and cruel. They serve no purpose which may harder for any visuals serving our country to become citizens. They had a measurable impact. Total military authorization fiscal year 2017, [inaudible] in addition because they dramatically cut the numbers of offices Naturalization Services to those stationed overseas have become much more limited. U. S. Eis used to provide services 23 International Offices in the change took effect last month and was cut from 23 International Offices to four offices. Personnel is on site to conduct naturalization interviews but one week for every calendar quart. Why would we make it more difficult for the men and women were risking their lives in service of our country to become permanent citizens. Its shortsighted and foolhardy. Many of these veterans have been removed from the United States as a result of the ptsd, brain injury and other physical trauma suffered while on active duty and make the transition back to civilian life. In other words, they served this country, had a medical condition as a result which impaired their judgment, committed some crimes as a result of their medical condition but were therefore deported. We can agree individuals should serve a reasonable sentence but we should if that may have been service related. There must be a better way to address these cases. Our veterans deserve better and we owe it to them to find a way to bring compassion and discretion back to our Immigration Laws. I want to end on a positive note. Last week i introduced a bill along with Ranking Member collins and we served honorably in the armed forces himself as well as several of my esteemed colleagues. This bill will fix the problem the result of the policy change in august which makes it more difficult for children of u. S. Citizens serving our country abroad to be organized as u. S. Citizens. This will reverse this misguided policy. It will make it easier for the children. Im glad we were able to Work Together to pass this important legislation. I look forward to advancing our efforts in the coming weeks. I want to thank the percentage of for holding this important hearing. I think the witnesses for testifying. I yield back the balance of my time. Thank you, chairman nadler. I like to recognize the Ranking Member, mr. Collins for his opening statement. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Im pleased to have the opportunity to discuss these opportunities because i was a colonel and understand the issues running military service. Its Congress Place to determine what should be made to u. S. Law governing those who serve desperate last week that sharon mentioned he and i along with other colleagues from across the political spectrum introduced hr 4803, citizenship for children. [inaudible] this exposed a loophole. Some children were not automatic acquire citizenship because of their parents deployment prohibited them from eating the statute. This would fix this unfortunate loophole. It is important to remember that immigrants wear the uniform and have since the founding of our nation. Historically the average number of Foreign Nationals have been around 5000 a year and that number jumped to 7000 in 2019. Many will go on to be naturalized for their service and from fiscal year 2001members in the military including more than 11000 deployed overbroad. Our Immigration Laws organize the immigrant layout provisions of the expedited naturalization of Foreign Nationals. In Foreign National who serves in hostilities is a level eligible to apply for naturalization for Honorable Service. [inaudible] this aligns with Longstanding Department policies that the department does not issue characterization for any citizen or noncitizen alike. Not all Foreign Nationals have certain military and those who do not remain subject to our Immigration Laws, although we should not sealed Service Members from the necessary lawful consequences for agencies handling oral cases should be particularly careful with those of services. We must be vigilant about any enlistees, foreign or national alike to make sure they do not intend arm. The department of defense under the Obama Administration became aware of the risks created and halted enlistment. But that is vital with linkage or Health Skills vital to the National Interest to enlist in the Armed Services even though they were only here on timber a visa. Wellintentioned, the screening processes were not up to the challenge. This includes questionable preference for the foreign country. Susceptibility to a foreign influence. There is an even one publicly known case in which a chinese spy enlisted to the military through the program. I note the deferment of defense is improving its screening i support the decision to halt the program. [inaudible] at this time in Service Requirement and the other policies we will discuss. I look forward to the witness testimony and thank you for being here. With that, i yield back my time. Thank you, Ranking Member collins. Its my pleasure period he was born in mexico grew up in california and enlisted in the army in 1995 and served for six years during which time he received multiple awards such as the Army Commendation medal, humanitarian service medal, despite his service to the his country he is bent deported twice with disHonorable Discharge from the army in 2001. Last year he became a u. S. Citizen and remains committed to his organization and providing sup