the committee will come to order welcome today the subcommittee will take consider reports on two private bills h r fifteen seventy six and h r thirty one eighty enforcement in august of two thousand and one daniel what euro was born in a nairobi slum in abandoned trash he was quickly mauled by her dog what a passer by found him and took him to the hospital daniel was nearly useless to hospital then talking to the frances jones abandoned babies and children center known as a b c where condition improved although you underwent surgery to repair his torn face his skin grafts were too small and did not to perform the complicated surgery in a range the additional treatments daniel required to date there performed for reconstructive surgery to repair the damage caused by the dog at its certified that he requires additional surgeries over the next several years as well as continue therapy treatment and monitoring based on his work with pop specialist one of the houston surgeons confirms that daniel could neither receive proper reconstructive surgery in kenya or an adequate level of therapy local authorities in kenya have exhausted their search for daniel's family and the kenyan government has granted larry and france's jones legal guardianship over him so i've been their home over the past three years doing well in school and interacting with other children although larry and frances jones are willing to adopt your complete failure to implement the hague adoption convention of two thousand and eight makes that impossible h r fifteen seventy six present the only opportunity for daniel to remain in the united states are long term parents and mauled by dogs daniel lost his left ear left part of his mouth and one of his toes always successfully managed to fight off multiple infections at a nairobi hospital his legs curved like balls and his arms became nearly useless the hospital then took him to the francis jones abandoned babies and children a center a feed the children project where he remained for four years although he underwent surgery to help repair is torn face skin grafts were too small and they didn't take in two thousand and six frances jones co founder of feed the children brought daniel to the united states for medical treatment two plastic surgeons in houston volunteered to perform the complicated surgeries in arrange the medical treatments daniel required to date they performed for reconstructive surgeries to repair the damage caused by the dogs they have certified that he requires additional surgeries as well as continued therapy treatment and monitoring one of the houston surgeons confirms that daniel could receive neither proper reconstructive or adequate therapy and kenyan authorities in kenya have not been able to search for daniel's family and it is granted that that that has and it has granted that the jones legal guardianship is over is granted to go out of the jones legal guardianship over here there is apple ample precedent for such a private bill in the modern era congress has approved private bills where an alien suffered a serious illness and could not receive proper treatment in their home country for instance and i want to and one hundred six congress congress passed a private bill for maria and her son albert moreno was in the u s with her son on visitor's visas where he could no longer which could no longer be extended the son was undergoing medical treatment for cerebral palsy which was out of dana bowl in russia which he would have needed until he became an adult and in the hundred six congress passed a private bill for jacqueline and her three children one of the children who had a rare bone cancer had come to the u s with her father from berlin where it could not be treated hospital children's hospital had offered treatment at no cost to the family i do support this bill i'm very grateful that we have the best healthcare system in the world it brings people from all over the world for treatment they can't receive any place else and when we see this kind of a personal tragedy man has been mauled by dogs and gone through these years of suffering i think it cries out to us to simply meant to gather more information it is the first step in the private process manager i move the report that there is a motion to request a report do any other members wish to be heard on this if not all in favor of the request  i suppose will say no in the opinion of the chair the eyes have it and the request will be made pursuant to notice i now call up h r thirty one eighty two a private bill for the sergeant deployed the couple learned that tara was pregnant sergeant first parents and members of his military unit in iraq attest to the fact that the couple already had planned to marry before she became pregnant and by the to live and raise their future family in the united states the couple was married by proxy via telephone in july of two thousand a while sergeant first was in iraq but one month later in august of two thousand he was killed in combat although the marriage is legally valid in order for this to be recognized as sergeant spouse for immigration purposes the marriage itself would have to have been consummate consummated under the circumstances as was impossible and a lot makes no allowance for the fact that  she was already pregnant with her husband's child before the marriage ceremony took place on august fifteenth mrs first entered the united states on a visa waiver program to attend her husband's funeral in tennessee she returned to japan on september first in january of this year she gave birth to michael for the third in okinawa japan michael is the united states citizen with a social security number and a u s passport is entitled to his father's military benefit one month later travel to japan to escort their daughter in law and grandson to the united states she and her son i enter the united states in february two thousand and nine on the b two tourist visa but h r thirty one eighty two presents the only option for her to remain in the united states indefinitely with her husband's family what that having to return periodically to japan i don't recognize our ranking member speaking to speak on this bill thank you madam chair  seven where he was stationed at a marine camp marine camp while they dated for more than a year before michael was deployed to iraq in two thousand and eight shortly before michael was deployed to iraq the couple learned that tara was pregnant they had planned to marry before she became pregnant michael and which are aware married by proxy via telephone on july tenth two thousand and eight while sergeant first he was in iraq they were never able to see each other after their marriage because michael was killed in combat just ironically one month later august tenth two thousand and normally the a mag immigration nationality act would allow for tara to receive her green card despite the death of her husband the i  provides that in the case of an alien who was the spouse of a citizen of the united states at the time of the citizens death if the citizen served honorably in active duty service status in the military air or naval forces of the united states and died as a result of injury or disease incurred in or aggravated by combat alien any child of the alien shall be considered to remain an immediate relative after the death of the after the date of the citizens death however the immigration nationality act also provides that the term spouse does not include a spouse by reason of any marriage ceremony where their contracting parties their two are not physically present in the presence of each other unless the marriage shall have been consummated thus the first marriage is not recognized for immigration purposes because it was never consummated this provision enacted in one nine hundred fifty two was presumably designed to prevent marriage fraud however according to the u s embassy in the south in the seoul korea it is clear that the first  that this these private bills need to be anomalies if they are anything other than anomalies then the broader structure of our statute should control them if not we should review the broad structure of our statute and  opposed will say no the motion that is here the ayes have it and report will be requested pursuant to notice i now call up h r thirty two ninety a bill to provide relief to our documented family members of victims of the tragedy of made without objection the bill will be considered as read and open for amendment at any point among the nearly three thousand persons killed during the terrorist attacks of nine eleven was small group of undocumented workers most of whom worked at windows on the world the restaurant at the top of the world trade center the surviving family members of these undocumented workers were awarded benefits from the nine eleven victims compensation fund after special master kenneth feinberg verified the death of the documented  dependent thousands of children of the deceased and their hundred tenth congress and full committee reported out h r ten seventy one the bill that would have allowed this limited class and surviving dependents the opportunity to apply for jobs in the stat consolation cancellation of removal so long as needed the dependents or the deceased beneficiary are worth it admissible or deportable on criminal or national security grounds after the subcommittee marked up h r ten seventy one sixteen members of the class came forward and offered proffers of information as an effort to obtain some form of immigration relief because we now have detailed information about the spouses and children of the undocumented workers killed in the terrorist attacks h r thirty two ninety provides more tailored relief to those sixteen persons who came forward and made offers of information to the government h r thirty two ninety would permit these sixteen persons to adjust their status to that of alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence so long as one they apply for adjustment within one year of a nachman two are not inadmissible or deportable on criminal or security related grounds and three have satisfied any federal tax liability this is a bipartisan bill supported by several members of the new york city delegation and surrounding areas including the ranking member of the whole insecurity committee peter king i think these members for their work on this bill i support the bill and i strongly urge my colleagues as a vote in favor of h thirty two ninety i would note also that we had substantial discussion on this among the members of the subcommittee looting the with mr king and mr smith  try and sort through this you know it is has been a very lengthy and time consuming process the department of homeland security has come through and i think that this was really what the minority had hoped to achieve and i hope that we can now move forward and i would now recognize the ranking member mr king for any comment that he may have thank you madam chair september eleventh humanitarian relief and patriot oppose it at both the committee and full committee levels during one hundred tenth congress and i oppose it today while i recognize and appreciate that several of my prior concerns have been addressed with the newest version of the bill i cannot support the ultimate grant of amnesty t individuals who have violated u s immigration law no one can argue that the u s immigration policy is not the most generous in the world we consistently admit over one million illegal immigrants a year we encourage productive law abiding people to come to this country in pursuit of the american in pursuit of the american dream but our generous immigration policy must have limits our generous immigration policy should reward those who abide by the laws and who those who wait their turn to enter the country the september eleventh humanitarian relief and patriotism act however compelling an aim of this bill as it grants amnesty to sixteen illegal immigrant family members of illegal immigrants who were killed in the september eleventh two thousand and one terrorist attacks and while i sympathize with every family member who lost a loved one in the september eleventh attacks regardless of their status i do not believe they should be granted amnesty solely on the basis of that loss why should those families be treated any differently than families of illegal immigrants who die in accidents by natural causes while in the united states this bill sets a precedent should there be any future terrorist attacks or other disasters in which illegal immigrants are killed it will be used as justification for the families of illegal immigrants killed in future terrorist attacks or disasters u s immigration policy should not be based on emotion or whether any illegal immigrant has suffered a tragedy during consideration of the bill last congress i requested specific information about the potential beneficiaries i was denied that information however there was provided along with additional pertinent information to the department of homeland security after it was clear that barring any atrocious facts each individual would receive a temporary lawful immigration status and other words they release the information if they got a deal and on august fifteenth of last year d s s announced that fifteen individuals would in fact receive some type of lawful immigration status some receive a parole some receive deferred action and some had pending visa applications one individual is denied lawful status because he had not paid his federal taxes for several years the temporary lawful immigration status is set to expire so we are again considering a permanent lawful immigration status for these individuals included in the information provided by each of the beneficiaries is the means by which the alien entered the country at least two of these individuals were smuggled into the country at least for entered without inspection meaning they crossed the border illegally and several of us u s immigration laws by overstaying their legal visas it's difficult to simply dismiss such illegal activity no matter under what circumstances or relatives of these individuals died and the current bill even grants legal immigration status the individual who knowingly refused to pay federal taxes and fact it was only after he was denied legal immigration status specifically because he did not pay taxes that he finally paid this bill not only rewards people who violate u s immigration laws but even a person who violates federal tax laws once again while we all sympathize with these families they should not be given amnesty simply because of their unfortunate loss of a loved one the us immigration laws should benefit those who follow the laws because and but because this legislation does the opposite my colleagues do oppose the bill and i deal back the balance of my time believe based on his comments to me that he is satisfied with the process that we have engaged in and certainly reasonable people going to do differ i recognize that but i wanted to make it public the communication and cooperation that s a subject that i spoke to in my opening statement with regard to the underlying bill and the amendment requires that in order to be eligible for immigration benefits under the bill the individuals must have paid their taxes as directed by law just a common standard one would think that is the least we can ask of someone who is receiving amnesty after being in this country illegally and receiving u s taxpayer money from the september eleventh victims compensation fund as if they pay their taxes and i w submit their taxes willingly and on time unfortunately there is one beneficiary of this bill who didn't even do that we wrote them a check out of the victims compensation fund they weren't even paying their federal taxes out of that u it became part of the bargain grant them amnesty and in exchange for paying the taxes according to the department homeland security this individual failed to file tax returns in the years between nine hundred ninety nine and two thousand and six that's not a year that's a whole string of years as it is up to seven years and the d h s s felt stated that such a failure demonstrates and and in deference to the social and legal obligations of residents in this country we reward someone and who does not pay their taxes write them a check out of the victims compensation fund reward them for not paying their taxes by amnesty citizenship then they do expect that they'll pay their taxes in the future as a amnesty a path to citizenship to avoid the correction f s also correctly stated that the failure to file tax returns reveals a civic your responsibility and i think we agree on this committee i would argue the fact that the fact he entered the country illegally also demonstrates both of those given all the taxpayer money he has received and that is one million three hundred eighty two thousand two hundred fifty two dollars to be exact from the victims compensation fund what possible excuse could he have for not paying his taxes i understand that once this individual found out that he would only obtain legal immigration status if he paid those taxes back then he filed the returns and paid the taxes however once again if this individual granted a lawful immigration status he has been taught that the that he can disrespect the laws of the united states without suffering any consequences and this is the kind of required responsibility that threaded through all of our immigration laws we would never write a piece of legislation even in this modern era that gave people a broad category of amnesty who were tax evaders can you imagine a boatload of tax evaders getting up and we would exempt them because of their personal grief of their status they would have demonstrated their disrespect for american law and their inability to participate as a responsible citizen this individual has already received over one point three million dollars not paid taxes and less than until the at least the implicit promise was made that we give  m the citizenship i think it's their responsible for this congress to establish such a precedent and there is not an addition to the president of the funds out of the victims compensation fund going to someone who is here illegally so madam opposed the bill has resulted i said earlier from tremendous collaboration both between the parties the department of homeland security attorneys for the victims families and myself along with the ranking member lamar smith has been tailored to achieve the greatest possible support and i think it pretty much exceeded it accomplishes a very important thing and i think this amendment really on the wind that accomplishment the bill already requires that all federal tax liabilities satisfied before a person could adjust their status to that of a lawful permanent resident is a meme and appears to be based on the premise that a person can never become right with the law it would also create a perverse incentive to not pay back taxes because the benefit would be denied in any event the people who would benefit from this bill all of whom lost a spouse or parent in the nine eleven terrorist attacks are intimately and uniquely tied to american society in a way that few other americans are because respect for our laws is of paramount importance h r thirty two ninety conditions immigration relief on satisfaction the federal tax liability to deny immigration relief to a person with these close ties to our country based upon a past wrong that has been righted would itself be wrong the people eligible to receive immigration relief under this bill already have undergone scrutiny in connection with the properties of information that they provided once they apply for jobs with the status under this bill they will undergo still further scrutiny as the bill does nothing to limit the secretary of homeland security the ability to out to the to the maker of the amendment that both provisions in the exception already included in the bill the willfully mis representation amendment is resides on page three lin have the authority already but i think mr king wants it's already include in the bill again as part of a lengthy bipartisan discussion to make this bill palatable to all to all those who did and also to do what i think all of us agree even the anticipation of receiving a lawful status and he has a long history of not paying his taxes this amendment is drafted to example someone who has willfully not paid their taxes and so the language that's in that's drafted in the bill i think deftly circumvents that fact and it still is set up to reward someone who has not been a taxpayer and in till such time as he anticipated a path to citizenship and paid his taxes out of the victims compensation fund and i and i would suggest further that whatever conversations may have taken place between the chair and the full ranking member they could not have been discussing this amendment because because i've just from going to someone who has bought this amendment addresses the individual who has circumvented their taxes and paid them out of the victim's compensation fund i think that's an ideal that i want to make clear i did not need to imply that i with i think more knowledge then certainly more knowledge than we had all began discussing this bill some months ago and i again acknowledge that there has been a lot of work done on this bill it's narrowed the number but we've consistently had a resistance to getting information we've just passed to private bills out of this committee and the names of those of individuals in the history those individuals and the reports for the information that's necessary for us to make a decision on asking for the further reporter freely available of this committee not one name of the people that are covered in this bill is available to members of this committee it's secret we don't know their names we began to ask questions such as well were they in the united states at the time of the at the time of the september eleventh well we can't really answer that who are these people did they get compensation fund so that was also rizzo's we had testimony here and a hearing witness said represented some of them not all of them and when you pressed for further answers it was evasive it has been a very difficult task to try to even narrow down some definitions it's like playing pin the tail on the donkey and having a move the donkey doesn't give me a lot of confidence that the people we're dealing with on the other side however however  however hard it is to identify them are honorable people to deal with i don't know i don't know of anybody if they don't pay their taxes it's a pretty good indication i hope we haven't set a precedent in this country that is defying the tax man the rule of law and when you undermine the rule of law you undermine our civilization you undermine our economy undermine every component that has made this a great nation and this congress needs to set that kind of message what would be the worst thing that could happen to this individual whoever he is as we don't know that secret man would be the worst thing to happen to this individual if we don't grant this path to citizenship under this private bill and i would submit that whatever country it is he would go back there with what's left out of his one point three million dollars after rebate is legitimate taxes here in the united states now that's not my idea of being condemned anything there's a million dollars violated our laws i resist rewarding that i think it's a principle as congress needs to stand on i think the standard that was written in the bill perhaps had the right intention but i believe that my amendment specifically addresses this and that will make it clear which side of this law we are on i thank the gentleman from  are the two sides or do we believe that anyone who gets this relief in addition to being i think on many levels unique circumstance that i think we in congress have spoken to we said loudly and believes essentially there should be no private bill take that position because anyone who is getting relief from a private bill in one way or another has gone through cracks of our immigration law and we're trying to on a humanitarian level with all private individuals and the in the discussions over the past three years the agreement was that a proper would be made to the department of homeland security by the entire  situation and i think mr king is entitled to that view but there is a large number of us in both sides of the aisle who see this unique group of people who are in this unusual circumstance that they were they were they were beneficiaries of the victim compensation fund and now are in this weird nebulous status that they can't be here they can't be there and we're trying to find a resolution and when we've had negotiations over the course of the last couple of years these questions have emerged how do we handle people who attacked liabilities how do we handle people that might have in the past made misstatements and so we've tried to accommodate them those legitimate concerns by making changes to the bill in the course of a two year process but there have been many changes but let me just say this that if you follow the gentleman's argument the logical extension anyone that ever steps forward and says i have a tax liability i want to clean the boxes from two thousand three thousand to maybe it's from last year  for ever consider them to be a scofflaw a criminal and not get benefits from government that's a position you can take but i don't think we believe that about our constituents i don't believe that we believe that that our constituents who say i want to resolve my tax liability so i can get this job or so that i'm ashamed of what i did i want to fix it that's a common thing that happens and so i just want my colleagues to realize that what we're saying with this amendment goes far beyond i think what we probably believe in that is that we want to make sure that people make the government whole before they get any benefit and let me just make one final point look i think that we have made an effort here to  hundred ninety nine two thousand and two thousand two thousand and one two three four five all those years so he reached into his fund a victims compensation fund that was one point three million dollars and paid the tax liability that accrued over those years and i don't think that there was a tax liability on the victims compensation but i think that was a tax refund and i'm sure the head of the gentleman from new york would pop up if i had been wrong on that one so we have an individual with here's what we know he avoided taxes for all those years he came into the united states illegally d like to know what kind of country would bring their own people back when they've been here especially if they're a million dollars in arriving in ecuador with a million dollars in their pocket i think they should wire down there i do recognize that i think i have made my amount on what that person's life is worth because in many cases i'm sure these victims would gladly give up the compensation that they're receiving if they could have their loved one back but i doubt that  b was printed in the united states on september eleventh two thousand on the gentleman will be heard on his amendment for five minutes thank you madam chair this m m it also addresses one of the questions that we ask as we struggled to gather some information and data on the on the numbers of people that would be included in this bill and requires the amendment requires that in order to be eligible for immigration benefits under this bill the individuals must have been present in the united states on september eleventh two thousand and one as we began to ask those questions a answers came i will say characterize them reluctantly the best information we have are that there are two individuals that came to the united states after september eleventh supporters of this bill has claimed that these individuals should be a lawful permanent residence because their roots are here in the united states and were here prior to september and september eleventh two thousand and one however turns out that two  beneficiaries of this bill actually came to united states sometime in late march of two thousand and two a full six months after the terrorist attacks the united states allow them to come in on a temporary basis for humanitarian reasons they are now abusing that gesture by seeking to stay permanently any roots the beneficiary may have had the united states were established well after the attacks we should not encourage people to enter the country after the fact in order to obtain let me say a path to citizenship and as i listen to the gentleman from new york and that is the issue that he raised about the term reward generally i would arise in or a bottle of such a statement by the gentleman new york but i want to acknowledge that there is substance  that statement and i also would suggest that it's more substance than most of the rest of the argument they made combined as i listen to this these definitions that are coming out here and how we have to have exceptional circumstances and even though we have people who have received millions of dollars for the victims compensation fund we should still suspend the rest of our law and actually our common sense judgment because the compassion that we are to have should overrule the law i'm concerned about sending the wrong message i'm concerned about setting up a magnet mike can you imagine if the united states is attacked again that we've set the precedent that people that come here after the attack stablish themselves can do receive a path to citizenship and that it would attract them to the united states as i listen to this debate about how no one would trade off a loved one for a million or two million dollars no one would do that human life is sacred in all of its forms and i'm one on this committee that is established that clearly on my record from my entire legislative career occurs to me that we have thousands and thousands of americans who have lost their lives at the hands of illegal immigrants and there is no move on the part of this committee to compensate those grieving families and far greater numbers than we're talking about here so i'm making the point a ality and the message that needs to be sent and because we've failed to him to enforce our immigration laws there are thousands of families that are grieving today and they have no recourse they have no victims compensation fund they don't even have the sympathy of this country or this committee because we don't know them we don't know who they are for the most part we don't know how many there are we're trying to find out and that's a subject that is legitimate for this committee to take up but this amendment speaks to the issue of two individuals who came to the united states well after september eleventh and those two individuals somehow are scooped up into this pool the pool that we're told would be much more than twenty but don't limit that and now we're down to about sixteen and if my memory did pass we fifteen and this amendment if it passes would take us to fourteen but when they were not in the united states at the time of the disaster how do we rationalize that we should give them some special path to citizenship regardless of how you define that special path to citizenship how do we rationalize that i'm sure that with this amazing thing that we have and it's humanity's infinite capacity to self rationalize there will be an argument that will be made it will be considered to irrational by some but i don't believe it is rational to reward people that were in a former granted a foreign country with a path to citizenship regardless of their level of their grief there are many others in foreign countries too we did reach out to them and we don't have the same level of sympathy for american citizens who are victims of people who came here illegally now we've just turned out an amendment that that gives this path to citizenship to an individual who came here illegally and  i recognize myself to that this amendment be rejected i would urge members to think back and remember how we felt as a nation on september eleventh and september twelfth two thousand and one where we saw two buildings in new york literally just dissolve with everyone inside incinerated i remember  going up with members of the california delegation in the judiciary committee at that time to look at this we wanted to be there personally before we started work that was bipartisan on all of the anti terrorism legislation that we passed for all of the survivors the family members they don't have a grave to go to all they've got to go to the site on that on that and we  disagree but there was a substantial discussion when we began this bill of showing some mercy to the surviving members and i want to continue now this  that is before us today is much smaller than it was at the beginning but it still accomplishes a very important thing the amendment i think goes too far we know from the proxies that were offered poland and fought on the side of the american colonists against the british during the american revolution military engagement against the british was on september eleventh seven hundred seventy seven at the battle of brandywine courageous charge of murder the disaster  american cavalry saved the life of george washington as a result on september fifteenth seven hundred seventy seven george washington promoted alaska to the rank of brigadier general of the american cavalry ultimately earning him the distinction of being the father of the american cavalry he died heroically on the field of battle fighting for american independence two years later current american law provides for posthumous naturalization or death results in serving while on active duty during world war one world war two the korean war the vietnam war or other designated designated period possibility the department of homeland security administers in grants such positive citizenship between september eleventh two thousand and one in june two thousand and eight  designated period of hostility to congressional research service reports that one hundred eighteen members have been granted posthumous citizenship by the department of homeland security pursuant to current law essentially posthumous citizenship is a symbolic honor accorded non citizens who gave their lives in defense of the united states granting a posthumous has no automatic affect on the immigration status of surviving family another route for a path to citizenship is through congressional proclamation as of two thousand and eight six distinguished individuals have been congressional author most recently in two thousand and two when mark lafayette the same french general who like general posthumously in recognizes his contribution in aiding the american colonists in their fight for independence against the british i want to thank mr manager our colleague for sponsoring this bipartisan resolution and bringing general  contributions to our country to the attention of the united states congress i strongly urge my colleagues to vote in favor of a red twenty six to give general pull out the recognition that no honor so clearly was deserved we might not even have a united states of america but for tremendous service in our revolutionary war and i would now recognize the ranking member for any comment he may have thank you madam chair this  issue of the resolution on the honorary citizenship something that we have churned through this congress for many long months and i have had a number of meetings with regard to this issue  polish american organizations that have come through series of questions about the history of honestly from the arthur area that i come from i was not aware that of him in our history until such time as former speaker denny hastert began to press for honorary citizenship for casmir polanski at that point i resisted honorary citizenship even though it was the bill that was pushed by the speaker of the house of my own party and i did so because i didn't believe there was justification to put casmir polanski in the same category with those who now have honorary citizenship and tremendously high honor at places in the history of united states mr and mrs william penn mother teresa churchill lafayette lafayette who himself laid the cornerstone for the plastique monument and yet as one that evaluates the history and the contribution of casmir pelasgic there are many things along the way that speak to is honor and the being the founder of the cavalry is one of them saving george washington's life at the battle bryan brandywine is another his history and in eastern europe before he came to the united states having gone into battle against the russians and been captured by the russians signed a document that he would not engage in battle with the russians again and still went back to their battle against the russians as a question that hangs out there for me but it's clear th battle died of his well as aboard the ship the wasp and that he has made a significant contribution to this country as the chair has noted we have a hundred and eighteen service members who have been granted post s citizenship will they were killed and killed in battle in the modern era sense september eleventh two thousand and one those service members and it's according to a statute that we pass here in this congress recognizing and award awarding honorary citizenship to those who gave their lives in defense of the liberties of this nation and that number and that point as near as i can determine it was brought about by questions that i ask an examination of the history of  and how we put this into a measure of relevancy today and the question i ask was how can we award a posthumous citizenship to those who died or were not american citizens defending our country and deny asking having been such and such an honorable and brave and noble soul to have established illusionary war and finally made or what if i can difference in the revolutionary war and each war after that until the internal combustion engine finally made orses obsolete in battle and also saved george washington's life at the battle of brandywine and who my other reports that i'm receiving did want to be an american an american citizen and so throughout all of this the biggest  hurdle to get over why are all of the negative attacks that came from some of the rather on discipline members of the polish community and i don't want to send a message that because someone writes a negative op eds and letters into my  hometown newspaper that that's going to cause me to agree to something that i would otherwise agree to in fact my instincts on that are rather than send a message that i would capitulate to those kind of media threats i would rather hold something up to say let's get it right first before we move forward because that kind of behavior is can't be tolerated while we were a long ways along this path with a lot of good work done by dennis kucinich and others laying out these facts working these things over april first of this year a group of polish american representatives came to my office and we ironed out many of these issues and i began to open the door on this alaska resolution and then the attacks came in the newspaper again well i don't want to punish the polish community and i don't want to dishonor cas because one and disciplined individual decided that certain approach was going to be the way to get something done and so on balance i support this resolution and i don't want to send a message that intimidation tactics got us anywhere in fact what they did is they held us up for more than a year and so i believe casmir poll asked tremendous amount of merit and to put him in the category of the winston churchill marquis to lafayette mr mrs william penn and mother teresa individual in this fashion and he paid a high price and it contributed greatly to this country and i'm grateful for it and i today will be supporting this resolution madam chair and i yield back amounts of my gentleman yield back the question is on reporting the resolution favorably to the full two days your committee all those in favor will signify by saying that all those opposed will say no in the opinion of the chair the eyes have it and a majority having an voted in favor the bill as twenty six is ordered reported favorably to the full committee without objection one story i did not hear you  having a vote in favor the bill ha rezzes order reported favorably for committee without objection the staff director make any technical and conforming changes pursuant to notice the chair calls up h r forty two a bill to create a fact finding commission to extend the study of the commission of on wartime relocation internment of civilians to study the treatment of japanese latin americans in the united states during world war two the clerk will report the bill the clerk will report the bill two partially due to the enactment of the commission on wartime relocation and internment of civilians back in one thousand nine hundred stablished a commission to review the history of the internment and relocation of japanese americans and legal permanent residents and to recommend appropriate remedy the commission produced an extensive report of its findings and made a series of recommendations ranging from a formal apology to restitution payments although the commission's report is widely accepted as having thoroughly examine the facts surrounding the world war two internment of japanese americans of other populations during world war two was either not sufficiently examined or not studied at all by the commission thousands of latin americans of japanese descent were mistreated during the period to commission touched upon this briefly in the appendix of the final report but this was the extent of its attention to this issue approximately two thousand three hundred men women and children of japanese descent were in voluntarily relocated from their homes in latin america detained in internment camps in the united states and in some cases deported to add country countries to enable the united states to conduct prisoner of japanese latin american and their subsequent treatment in the united states forty two addresses the treatment of japanese latin americans during world war two and would create a fact finding commission to extend the study of the commission on and jack are co sponsors of this bill i hope my colleagues on both sides of the aisle will be supportive and favorably report the measure from our subcommittee today i also want to commend the representative there for his artwork on this bill and i urge my colleagues toward h r forty two i will note that i will be offering an amendment in the nature of a substitute that incorporates changes that were requested by the minority agreed upon by mr bush and one you madam chair i oppose this bill congress in the executive branch have addressed the issue of world war two internment many times and in fact a quick perusal of the issue finds no fewer than four pieces of legislation passed by congress and enacted into law two sets of amendments made to some of that legislation at least two commissions established to report on the issue at least four occasions when the federal government financially compensated individuals for their relocation to apologies from the offices of the president of the united states and at least two billion dollars spent investigating researching and providing compensation to individuals affected by these policies there's no shortage of the federal government's  acknowledgment of the world war two relocation policy however i could find relatively little mention of the country's predicament at the time of the enactment of these policies and then president franklin roosevelt issuing an executive order nine zero six six february nineteenth one nine hundred forty two context is that the united states was being attacked in an all out global war that we did not see us citizens were being killed the future of civilized society lay in the balance and the president has a responsibility to protect the population from future attack from the theft of military and intelligence secrets and acts of sabotage by our enemies the president's recent responsibility in th time of crisis there been a few writings on the issue and as i pointed them out at the hearings we had on this topic in march of light of this year david laufman former special assistant to the director of the national security agency wrote about espionage tactics by the japanese that involves soliciting japanese americans to spy on us institutions he testified in front of the house judiciary committee about the same topic in june one thousand nine hundred eighty four you know not that long at least and there are published reports about terrorize residents of the new who island which is of course why and i'll us sovereign territory u s citizens assisting japanese pilot i also looked at the report of the commission on wartime relocation and internment of civilians thinking that it would surely mention the intelligence gathered by the roosevelt administration as a reason for the enacting of the relocation policy by there didn't seem to be any mention of it in that report either in fact mr loman points out in his book quote the commission concluded that there was no evidence of espionage by a west coast japanese resident he goes on to note that the commission quote overlooked the intelligence on the subject which it was charged to investigate and that this same intelligence was the reason executive order nine zero six six was issued by the president the first place close quote such a rewriting of history is indefensible and does a disservice to good people who had to make tough decisions in trying times i understand that the latin americans of japanese descent were mentioned all only in the appendix o the report by the u s commission on wartime relocation and internment of civilians but how many more times would be forced to revisit the issue to establish a commission to review how u government treated every person during a world war two is ludicrous yet that's exactly what we were heading to each time we were we raised the issue there's no getting around the fact that the federal government must take appropriate action during times of war to protect its citizens in fact our founders recognized that when they enacted the alien anime's act of seventeen just that fact was acknowledged not taking necessary action would be abdicating perhaps the foremost responsibility of the federal government to protect its population from those who would do us harm the true us victims of world war two include the members of the u s military who died while protecting america from the threat of totalitarianism these four hundred fifty thousand americans lost their lives defending the freedoms that we enjoy and there is a lost generation of americans who as possible parents were killed during world war two combat in the end i'm sad to say that i believe this entire bill is about financial compensation the american taxpayer should not have to empty their pockets simply because a group of people felt victimized by actions of a previous generation there should be a statute of limitations at least within the moral understanding of the people of the world and it should be within the understanding of the members of this congress at the subcommittee hearing on this issue i said that i hope that hearing would be the final action the federal government took on these so we could put the past to rest and realize that we should refrain from judging the actions of prior populations without the benefit of being in the same set of circumstances as those prior populations unfortunately that was not the case this march goes on america abusing its self not being able to understand the facts of our history america into the world and still being the leader of the world when it comes to freedom and liberty in fact we have provided and protected and save the world from totalitarianism world war two is this generation of t and deal with it under the circumstances of the time and even though we know there were some very successful intelligence operations like cracking the japanese example that led to an error or a battle of midway that turned the tide of the war what if that kind of information that would have hurt the united states had gotten into the hands of the japanese and turned the tide of the war the other way still be giving compensation to those who were not even though maybe with america might have been protected under the think we need to look at this if i could just conclude medicare i think we need to look at this within the real context of history i think is inappropriate to make these decisions i oppose this bill back to balance my gentlemen time has expired i would now like to recognize myself and amended in the nature of the those changes are contained in this amendment we have also been in contact with representative dan lungren a member of the subcommittee and a long standing supporter of the bill and he is also supportive of the changes made in th bipartisan compromise between majority image and minority representatives is there a significant portions of the findings section of what remains are facts about japanese and latin american internees based on story information provided in the report of the one mission on wartime location and internment of civilians additionally the minority had expressed concern that this investigative commission would in adequately account for the expected benefits of enacting extraordinary programs during exceptional time and response we've added language directing the commission in addition to reviewing documents from the department of state and the department of defense to review any other relevant information or documents pertaining to the internment of japanese latin american would include any appropriate or plausible study of the underlying rationale behind the program and any advantages by those who conducted the operations at the congressional budget office scored nine the senate can pay into the bill which was reported from the senate homeland security and governmental affairs committee by voice earlier this year at five hundred thousand dollars i suspect the score for paragraph headings consistent with the sub amendment in my view the changes agreed to by representatives of there are quite substantial and a good faith effort to move this measure forward in a bipartisan manner i know that he has work with representative lundgren was also this amendment clarifies that members of the commission on wartime relocation and internment of latin americans of japanese that they must distinguish where academic historians who can provide expertise on this issue and who are impartial  just honest objective knowledge is as it is a requirement that is established by this amendment these members must not have made any prior judgment about the fact to be reviewed and reported on by the commission this commission should be stacked with members who have already determined that the actions of the us government were unjustified and that the government mistreated latin americans or japanese to stand out it would be disingenuous to say the least what would be the purpose of forming a commission if they were simply going to be seated with people that had already a preconceived a judgment and a conclusion although we know that that happens often in government in order for this commission to have any credibility its members must be independent and must not be activist for the cause and one of the reasons i brought this because because and i won't  be very specific in this but i brought this in part because we had inconsistency between the testimony before the committee and the prior written documents that had been drafted and authored by at least one of the witnesses and so i think it's important that if this really is a commission if this really is a fact finding commission then it should be seeded with people who are actually have have access to oracle knowledge are experts that are objective but are not biased and that's the simplicity of this amendment and actually of all the memos i offer in this committee this is the one that i would suspect would be the least controversial and it should be something we should endeavor to achieve in all accept just simply clarifies that more than the within the substitute amendment and so i urge its adoption and i would yield back a balance senate the speaker and the president pro tem will receive recommendations from the majority leader and the minority leader of their respective body and there's really no reason to limit mr in support of his and then thank you madam chair this is a very simple amendment and it's consistent with much of the testimony we received on this issue and i would think it be consistent with the intentions of this of this house my clarify is that no reparations or other this amendment clarifies that no reparations or other monetary compensation will be paid that will be paid out under h r forty two or subsequent legislation resulting from the report of the european american mission the no reparations amendment current us taxpayers who were not even alive during world war two should not have to foot the bill for actions of former generations simply because some individuals felt victimized by those actions i fail to see how reparations make up for any perceived mistreatment by the us government let's be clear about the point of this bill some proponents claim that the bill is about having their story heard and having the us government acknowledge the treatment they or their family members receive they claim this is not about reparations however the testified in favor of the bill at a march subcommittee committee hearing is actually the coordinator for the campaign for justice redress now for japanese latin america the number one person in america who was claiming for reparations for japanese interned during the second world war she's called for reader asked monetary and in the form of an apology by the u s government it's one thing to require a commission to investigate and report on u s government activities to stablish an historically accurate record but it's quite another to expect us taxpayers to hand over perhaps millions of dollars to the people who felt that injustices were done to them if as some proponents claim this bill is not about reparations my amendment will be will make this very clear and it clearly should pass this committee that is that we had throughout the hearing where that it wasn't about reparations but we know the history of reparations they start with a piece of legislation that asked first they asked for a hearing and they just want to put it into the congressional record their stories so we bring the witnesses forward and they put their story into the congressional record even though number of them may have written books may have written letters to the editor had all kinds of op eds in the newspapers and had their own historical document says they have it as if the congressional record is the only repository they can actually gather history and so once we compile the historical record with hearings before the committee all under the premise that we're not here for reparations we just want our story heard we just want history to accurately reflect what happened i'm all about the truth and i want history to reflect accurately what happened i don't think the truth is limited to our ability to put it into the congressional record i think there are many other documents that are that are necessary to compile an adequate historical record but be that as it may we held he arings with the testimony mostly oral and the written testimony into the record no one pressed this committee for reparations on that day although the question was occasionally asked added some rejected the idea of reparations and simply asked that there would be an historical record that was accurate that reflected the stress that some of them were in during that time that this country was in such great stress this congress that the point of the green of those hearings had no intention of offering a reparations this underlying bill caraway doesn't either speak to the reparations but if it isn't our intent to provide for reparations it's a lot easier from of those from the fiscally responsible members of congress to support legislation that is clearly not going down the path of reparation but the history of this country is hearing us build a record bring a bill ask for reparations and then at some point we just dispatch it without any kind of responsibility the taxpayers you know if there is a deal here for previous generations people long dead that we would ask people may be yet to be born to pay off the national debt and paying reparations if there's the old associated with that  then i'd submit that there should be with members of congress who are not fiscally responsible that along to our children are reparations need not be part of this bill this amendment makes it clear that they are not part of this bill and it makes it easier a responsible member to support the bill if there was actually genuine in the statements made in the seeking recognition of history but not seeking reparations this is the amendment t recommending financial compensation or redress in their report now it's my view that the bills should not limit the commissions ability to make recommendations that it deems appropriate however it will be up to congress decide which recommendations if any to accept from the commission limitations of the scope of the commission's ability to review the report and report its findings and recommendations will hinder the old goal of completing the historical narrative on th issue i would note however that i would consider it very unlikely that a future congress would engag reparations measure as has been the discussion with the citizen a proponent of the bill out in the community i do think however that it would be unfortunate to limit the commission's ability to make recommendations that it deems appropriate we don't have to worry since ultimately the bottom of the buck stops with the congress and no action could be taken and was the congress were to act on on  amendment in the nature of a substitute clerk report the minimum number three amendments to the amendment in the nature of a substitute offered by restricting a while on section four a one strike and at the end of sub paragraph three designate the paragraph as sub paragraph and insert after sub paragraph following investigate and determine the facts and circumstances that led to the united states government actions to relocate and and in turn latin america of japanese descent on world war two including justifications for doing so this activities by individuals of japanese descent right the gentleman is recognized for five minutes in behalf of his and them thank you madam chair and i appreciate hearing the amendment read its entirety i know the difficulty of pronouncing some of these names and i wanted to learn how but this i made some of these points in a previous statement by if we are able to look at the balance of this history if we're not able to if one thing is to look at the people who were relocated during that period of time nation was under great stress and if there are if there's nothing that goes into the record that demonstrates what information they government had to work with when they made that order then the conclusion that will be a by historians is that there was no motivation it was simply motivated completely out of some kind of some kind of let me say but not acknowledging these activities occurred and had an impact on the u s government's policies will lessen the credibility of the commission's report herad as us citizens of japanese descent and jim tani a japanese citizen who lived in hawaii the united states by aiding a japanese fighter pilot name island there are proactive groups who act were active all over the united states during world war two the german american bun carried out propaganda promoting its communist causes published magazines and brochures they organize demonstrations including mass rallies at madison square garden in new york city and maintained a number of youth camps run like hitler youth camps other protel a tarion group promoted totalitarian policies in the united states these activities should be recognized as as valid justification for u s wartime policies or at a minimum should become part of their recorded history if we're looking at objective stablish in the historical facts that surround these incidents we have to look at both sides of the issue and there is history out there there recognizes that history out there that shows that there were forces in the united states that were working against the best interests of the united states and often those forces or reflected through the ethnicities of the of the people who came from the countries where we were war and if that's a hard thing to understand just think about the twenty somali muslims who left minnesota and went back to train and some of them fight against the united states in this modern era sent september eleventh two thousand and one within the last couple months we've seen that information on hold so there isn't a fantasy that takes place and as proud as patriotic as many japanese were that i'm very sensitive to the patriots who went back to fight against some of their ancestors and some of their own relation it was a civil war it happened in the second world war it happened with my own family my grandmother came from commission can report whatever arises during the course of its investigation the bill does not presume that any particular conclusions will be reached or that any pre determined remedies will be offered determining the facts and circumstances surrounding the treatment of this population is precisely the point of establishing the commission so it would be unnecessary in practice to accept this amendment include such statements in the bill finding the amendment is a purely political maneuver to divert attention away from the real purpose of h r forty two to investigate and determine the facts surrounding our decision to relocate intern and deport approximately twenty three hundred latin americans of japanese descent during world war two forty five nays and the amendment is not adopted mr king we have votes on the floor i would like to move forward on the question on the m and in the nature of a substitute scope of the bill to broaden the scope of the bell and this a member also brought as a scope of the bill this amendment requires the commission to comprehensively review the sacrifices made by members of the u s military who were killed during world war two and how their sacrifices made the united states a safer country for generations to come we should just now wallow in self guilt we should take pride in the sacrifices of those who gave such a high price for our freedom the true us victims of world war two include the members of the us military who died while protecting americans from the threat of totalitarianism four hundred fifty thousand americans lost their lives defending the freedoms that we enjoy and many of them never became the fathers that they would have been had they not paid such a high price there is a lost generation of americans who as possible parents were killed during world war two combat we owe much including our very lives to those who fought and died while fighting world war two there's a valid reason that they are known as the greatest generation the commission should acknowledge their sacrifices as it studies the u s government's wartime policy i think about this often when i think of my family and my grandmother  who sent five of her sons into war my father went to south pacific two and a half years came back weighing one hundred fifteen pounds i look around at the family reunions and most of them had five or more children and i think of those that have a bullet would have gone a different way my uncle that was wounded at the battle of the bulge another uncle that was short and i if they had if they had been just for the happenstance of battle one or more of them including my father might not have come thousand times that's the price that's been paid there's been no reparations made for that except the pride in their minds and in the hearts and the souls of the american people as we try to live up to this and heard that they paid their price for this commission that this is certainly not the right commission to be engaging in that kind of study one of the gentleman earlier amendments was to make sure that the commission be made up of scholars relative to  japanese american and academic historians so i think that at a future date perhaps gentlemen i can work on that that there should be some analysis of this i don't think it should