(b) Sections 350, 352, 353, 354, and 355 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1482, 1484, 1485, 1486, and 1487) are hereby repealed.

(c) Section 360(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1503(a)) is amended to read as follows:

"CERTAIN PROCEEDINGS INVOLVING UNITED STATES NATIONALITY

"SEC. 360. (a) Any person claiming a right or privilege as a national of the United States, who has been denied such right or privilege upon the ground that he is not a national of the United States, may seek judicial review of his claim to United States nationality under section 10 of the Administrative Procedure Act (5 U.S.C. 1009) or under the Declaratory Judgment Act (28 U.S.C. 2201, 2202). Nothing contained in this section shall be construed to limit the right of an alien held in custody to obtain judicial review thereof by habeas corpus proceedings. Any judicial proceeding to review a claim to United States nationality filed prior to the date of enactment of the Immigration and Nationality Act Amendments of 1964 which is pending on such date shall be heard and determined in accordance with the provisions of law in effect when the petition to review such claim was filed." (d) Section 360(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1503(c)) is amended by striking out the second sentence.

TITLE VIII-MISCELLANEOUS

POWERS OF IMMIGRATION OFFICERS

SEC. 801. Paragraph (1) of section 287 (a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1357(a)) is amended to read as follows:

"(1) to interrogate any alien, or person believed with probable cause to be an alien, as to his right to be or to remain in the United States;".

STATUTE OF LIMITATION

SEC. 802. (a) Title II of the Immigration and Nationality Act is amended by adding at the end of such title the following new section:

"LIMITATION ON TIME OF COMMENCING DEPORTATION PROCEEDING

"SEC. 293. No alien shall be deported by reason of any conduct occurring more than ten years prior to the institution of deportation proceedings."

(b) So much of the table of contents of the Immigration and Nationality Act as describes the contents of chapter 9 of such Act is amended by adding at the end thereof the following:

'Sec. 293. Limitation on time of commencing deportation proceedings."

PROHIBITION AGAINST NATURALIZATION

SEC. 803. Paragraph (3) of section 313(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1424(a)) is amended by striking out "in the United States" each place it appears.

(The analysis of H.R. 11446, as submitted by Mr. Lindsay, appears in the appendix.)

TO AMEND THE IMMIGRATION AND NATIONALITY

ACT

TUESDAY, JUNE 23, 1964

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

SUBCOMMITTEE No. 1

OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY,

Washington, D.C.

in

The subcommittee met, pursuant to adjournment, at 10 a.m., room 346, Cannon House Office Building, Hon. Michael A. Feighan (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding.

Present: Representatives Feighan, Poff, Chelf, Moore, and Rodino. Also present: Walter M. Besterman, legislative assistant, and Garner J. Cline, associate counsel.

Mr. FEIGHAN. The subcommittee will come to order.

We are very happy to welcome this morning our witness, a very able colleague, the Honorable Jack Westland from the State of Washington. You may proceed.

(H.R. 7669 follows:)

[H.R. 7669, 88th Cong., 1st sess.]

A BILL To remove restrictions upon the free entrance to the United States of citizens of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands

Be enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Act of June 27, 1952 (66 Stat. 163), as amended, is further amended by adding at the end of title II thereof the following new section 293:

"SEC. 293. (a) Nothing contained in this title except sections 212(a) (27), (28), and (29), 215, and 241(a) (1), (6), and (7) thereof shall be so construed as to limit, restrict, deny, or affect the coming into or departure from the United States of a native-born citizen of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands who presents a valid identity certificate issued by the High Commissioner of such territory: Provided, That nothing contained in this section shall be construed to give or to confer upon any such citizen any other privileges, rights, benefits, exemptions, or immunities under this Act, which are not otherwise specifically granted by this Act.

"(b) The High Commissioner of the trust territory shall issue an identity certificate, upon request, to any native-born citizen of such territory who has taken no affirmative steps to acquire foreign nationality.

"(c) Any person who comes to the United States pursuant to the provisions of this section shall, upon completion of the residence and physical presence requirements of section 316(a) of this Act, be deemed to have been lawfully admitted to the United States for permanent residence as of the date of such coming, for the purpose of petitioning for naturalization.

"(d) As used in this section, the term 'native-born citizen of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands' means a citizen of the trust territory as defined in sections 660 and 668(b)(1) of the Code of the Trust Territory or a person of unknown parentage found in the trust territory while under the age of five years unless shown, prior to attaining the age of twenty-one years, not to have been born in the trust territory."

STATEMENT OF HON. JACK WESTLAND, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF WASHINGTON

Mr. WESTLAND. I have copies of a prepared statement I would like to read. If the committee members wish to question me about anything, I will try to answer their questions.

Mr. Chairman, I am pleased that you have scheduled hearings on H.R. 7669, my bill to permit access to the United States for citizens of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. I introduced this bill when our Subcommittee on Territorial and Insular Affairs agreed to delete section 3 from H.R. 3198 on the condition that several of us would sponsor the legislation in this subcommittee.

The provisions of my bill will have far-reaching effects on the citizens of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. I have visited these Pacific islands and their inhabitants, and I know how anxious many of them are to become better acquainted with the United States and the opportunities this Nation can present to them. The total population is not large; roughly 88,000 from the entire 3-millionsquare-mile area. Perhaps 100 of them have had the opportunity to attend colleges and universities in the 50 States. Another 500 may have attended the College of Guam.

By and large, they have returned to their homes and are adding their knowledge to the reservoir of know-how urgently needed in the islands. Some of the returnees are medical practitioners and nurses; others are teachers and administrative personnel. Others have learned additional useful skills which they immediately put into practice. Offhand, I know of no person who has been trained under a Government scholarship who has not returned home. Granted, there will be some, but is not such to be expected? How many of us chose to remain in the community where we were born and reared? If the United States implements the trusteeship agreement to which we gave assent in 1947, we are to improve economic, political, educational, and social conditions in the islands. We have made a start in the right direction, but we have far to go. Under the trusteeship agreement, we are to encourage inhabitants to appreciate a greater degree of self-government than they presently enjoy. This means that some day they may wish to express a preference as to their destiny. They may wish to participate in a plebiscite indicating whether they would like to maintain their present relationship with the United Nations, or whether they would like to be more closely affiliated with the United States. I believe the islanders are too realistic to think in terms of independence. If and when they are asked to make their decision, we hope they will recognize the desirability of remaining with the United States in some capacity.

One way we can nourish this hope is to acquaint them with what we have to offer them. Like other persons in the world, seeing for them is believing. Our island friends can study about the United States, but they do not acquire the full appreciation they would have if they had a first-hand opportunity to see our country.

I believe some persons may fear that the islanders possess questionable characteristics or ideas. This is nonsense. Prospective visitors to the United States will be carefully screened under the provisions of my bill and undesirables can be promptly deported. We have nothing to fear in this regard.

Briefly, my bill will permit citizens of the trust territory to travel freely to and from the islands to the United States to live and to work here for the purpose of acquiring useful skills through attendance in apprenticeship programs. Some of them may wish in time to become U.S. citizens. Surely we can accommodate those few who would seek such a status. In fact, the annual immigration quota is usually filled by those wishing to reside on Guam.

Other witnesses will indicate implications of H.R. 7669, and explain some of the problems of its implementation. I am convinced that if we want to fulfill our obligations to the trust territory, we can do so. If, however, we are looking for ways to sidestep our responsibilities, we can find them, also. Members of our Subcommittee on Territorial and Insular Affairs were nearly unanimous in their belief that the relaxation of the immigration restrictions against inhabitants of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands would be in the best interests of the islanders and the United States. For all these reasons, therefore, I would like to urge your favorable consideration of this legislation. Mr. FEIGHAN. Thank you very much, Mr. Westland.

Several weeks ago the vice president of the congress of the trust territory was, as you probably know, in Washington, and it was my privilege to visit with him briefly. I found him to be a very, extremely able and congenial gentleman. I am certain all the other members would get the same reaction that I did had they had the privilege of meeting him.

Mr. Westland, is there any particular strategic value these trust territories have to the United States?

Mr. WESTLAND. Yes, sir; very much so.

Kwajalein, for example, is an area which has great strategic value. An atoll, such as Truk, which the Japanese held under the Japanese mandated islands is an extremely valuable piece of property out in the Pacific.

As I indicated in my statement, I have traveled that area all the way from Samoa in the South up as far as Chich Jima in the North. Many of these areas have tremendous strategic values to the United States. That is why we have kept restrictions on admission to these trust territories.

Mr. FEIGHAN. All your bill seeks is they be permitted free access to this country without permanent residence for citizenship; is that correct?

Mr. WESTLAND. It goes a little farther than that. It would permit them to use the time they spend in the United States, from the date of their entry to the United States, to count as part of the necessary period to apply for naturalization.

Mr. RODINO. Mr. Westland, in view of the fact we consider this area as a strategic area, would it not also be in the interest of the United States to retain as much as we possibly can of the best elements that are there now without trying to attract them into the United States where they might come in and remain here and acquire the necessary residence and then possibly, because the United States is so attractive, become permanent residents and eventually citizens and not go back?

Have you given any thought to that possibility?

Mr. WESTLAND. Yes.

36-382-64-pt. 1-11