Copeland Legalization Bill to Be Passed by Congress Before Its Adjournment

The House and Senate Conferees report on the Copeland Naturalization Bill was filed by Congressman Johnson, Chairman of the House Immigration Committee on Wednesday and is expected to come up for vote today.

Senator Hiram Johnson, chairman of the Senate Immigration Committee, was scheduled to file the report and possibly ask adoption of the bill.

According to present indications, the bill, as agreed upon in the conference report, will be adopted by both branches of Congress by the end of today’s session and will go to President Coolidge for his signature.

Examination of the text of the bill as reported disclosed that the date applicable to the legalizing of the entry of aliens who entered illegally is only up to June 3, 1921, instead of July 1, 1921, as previously reported.

The bill also provides that it is not to take effect until July 1, 1929. Another provision of the bill is that here-after, beginning July 1, 1929, no declaration of intention to become a citizen shall be valid unless the alien first procures a certificate of arrival for a fee of $5.00 Heretofore, such certificates were furnished by the naturalization bureau to the clerk of the court after filing the declaration of Intention and upon filing of a petition for naturalization.

Congressman Sabath did not sign the conference agreement, opposing it because of the change of date from 1924 to 1921 and also because it contained provisions for the issuance of certificates of legal entry upon the voluntary registration of persons who derived their citizenship through the naturalization of their parents during their minority or through that of their husbands.

The bill also increases the fee payable to clerks of the court for declarations of intention from one to five dollars and certificates of citizenship from four to ten dollars.