PROTECTION OF AMERICAN CITIZENS OF FOREIGN BIRTH OR PARENTAGE FROM LIABILITY TO MILITARY SERVICE IN CERTAIN NATIONS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, The committee this day met, Hon. Stephen G. Porter (chairman) presiding. The committee had before it for consideration House Joint Resolution 195, and at a subsequent meeting a reprint containing minor amendments, House Joint Resolution 268, which was favorably reported. The CHAIRMAN. Representative Kelly, of Pennsylvania, desires to be heard on House Joint Resolution 195, "Authorizing the President to negotiate with other nations for agreements and treaties for the protection of American citizens of foreign birth, or parentage, from liability to military service in other countries." The resolutions reading as follows: Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the President be, and he is hereby, authorized and requested to at once begin negotiations looking to agreements and treaties with the other nations that persons born in the United States of foreign parentage, and naturalized American citizens of foreign birth, who have possessed certificates or citizenship for more than five years, shall not be held liable for military service of any other act of allegiance during a stay not exceeding one year in duration in the territory subject to the jurisdiction of such nations. [House Joint Resolution 268, Seventieth Congress, first session] JOINT RESOLUTION Requesting the President to negotiate with the nations with which there is no such agreement treaties for the protection of American citizens of foreign birth, or parentage, from liability to military service in such nations Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the President be, and he is hereby, respectfully requested to endeavor as soon as possible to negotiate treaties with the remaining nations with which we have no such agreement, providing that persons born in the United States of foreign parentage, and naturalized American citizens, shall not be held liable for military service or any other act of allegiance during a stay not exceeding two years in duration in the territory subject to the jurisdiction of any such nation. The report of the State Department on this resolution is as follows: DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, March 1, 1928. MY DEAR MR. PORTER: I have received your letter of February 23 inclosing a copy of House Joint Resolution 195, introduced by Mr. Kelly on February 7, and asking for a report or recommendation of the department concerning the The resolution in question provides as follows: same. "That the President be, and he is hereby, authorized and requested to at once begin negotiations looking to agreements and treaties with the other nations 1 that persons born in the United States of foreign parentage, and naturalized American citizens of foreign birth, who have possessed certificates of citizenship for more than five years, shall not be held liable for military service or any other act of allegiance during a stay not exceeding one year in duration in the territory subject to the jurisdiction of such nations.' It seems desirable to consider separately the cases of persons of foreign birth who have acquired citizenship of the United States through naturalization and persons who are born in the United States of alien parents and who claim citizenship of the United States under the provision of the fourteenth amendment to the Constitution. As to the cases of naturalized citizens, attention is called to the fact that there are at present valid treaties of naturalization between the United States and certain foreign countires, under which the latter have agreed to recognize the American nationality of their former nationals who have obtained naturalization in this country. Under the provisions of these treaties it is possible for naturalized American citizens to visit their countries temporarily without molestation, although they may be punished for offenses committed before their emigration. Most of these treaties, however, contain provisions to the effect that, if a naturalized citizen resumes residence of a permanent character in the country of his origin, he shall be deemed to have abandoned his naturalization. The countries with which the United States has treaties of naturalization are as follows: Belgium, Denmark, Great Britain, Sweden, Norway, Haiti, Portugal, Honduras, Peru, Salvador, Uruguay, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Brazil, and Bulgaria. The United States is also a party to the Pan American Convention of 1906 concerning the status of naturalized citizens who again take up their residence in the country of their origin, which has also been adhered to by Ecuador, Paraguay, Colombia, Honduras, Panama, Peru, Salvador, Costa Rica, Mexico, Guatemala, Uruguay, the Argentine Republic, Nicaragua, Brazil, and Chile. This convention is similar in substance to the provisions contained in the naturalization treaties mentioned above concerning the status of naturalized citizens who resume residence of a permanent character in the countries of their origin. The United States formerly had treaties of naturalization with the German States and Austria-Hungary, which treaties were terminated as a result of the World War. However, the United States, under provisions in the treaties of peace with Germany, Austria, and Hungary, is entitled to the advantage of the provisions contained in the treaties of Versailles, St. Germain, and Trianon, under which Germany, Austria, and Hungary agreed to recognize the naturalization of their former nationals under the laws of the Allied and Associated Powers. Since the close of the World War the Government of the United States has endeavored to conclude naturalization treaties with a number of European countries, but so far has succeeded in concluding such a treaty only with Bulgaria. Efforts in this direction will be continued. As the principal complaints on account of the impressment into the military service of foreign countries in cases of persons naturalized in this country have been received from persons of Italian and French origin, special efforts have been made to procure naturalization treaties with Italy and France. It is the opinion of this department that it would not be advisable to enter into agreements of the kind proposed in the resolution concerning naturalized citizens, since an agreement to the effect that such persons might visit their countries of origin for a period of one year without molestation of the military service laws would seem to carry an inference that they could properly be regarded as having retained their original allegiance and that they could be compelled to perform military service after a stay of more than one year in their countries of origin. This would seem contrary to the principle of the right of expatriation as declared by Congress in the joint resolution of July 27, 1868, and subsequently embodied in sections 2000-2001, inclusive, of the Revised Statutes. As to the provision in the joint resolution concerning persons born in the United States of foreign parentage, it may be observed that, while such persons are citizens of the United States under the provisions of the fourteenth amendment to the Constitution, they may also be regarded as citizens of the countries of their parents' nationality under the laws thereof, thus having dual nationality. It is obvious that the United States is not in a position to deny the right of the foreign countries concerned to claim such persons as their nationals, in view of the fact that persons born abroad of American fathers may be claimed by this country as American nationals under the provision of section 1993 of the Revised Statutes. The department's attention is daily called to numbers of cases in which persons born in the United States of foreign parentage are impressed into the military |