A report analyzing pending legislation to encourage and aid the non-citizen in efforts to achieve citizenship status was made public today by Dr. William Allan Neilson, co-chairman of the Committee of 100 Sponsors for the Fourth Annual Conference of the American Committee for Protection of Foreign Born, which meets in Washington on March 2 and 3.
The report, which is to be presented to the March conference for final action, lists 22 of the 60 bills to be considered by Congress when it convenes Jan. 3. Dr. Neilson stated that these bills, which the committee is asking Congress to enact into law, are “an attempt to overcome in an American way the difficulties faced by the non-citizen in his sincere desire to become an American citizen.”
“Their passage,” Dr. Neilson said, “would encourage and help the majority of the three million non-citizens in the country to become citizens, removing many of the obstacles now in their path.” Dr. Neilson attributed these difficulties to the high fees, red tape, unnecessary delays, certain discriminatory provisions in the law and the high educational and literacy requirements for naturalization. He said attempts to force the naturalization of non-citizens are “dangerous acts of intimidation,” and that non-citizens are being blamed and attacked for their lack of citizenship whereas “it is extremely difficult for many of them to become naturalized.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
