HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.C.R. NO.	87
TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2008
STATE OF HAWAII

HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

Strongly urging the President of the United States and the United States Congress to enact legislation to confer priority status to children born to Department of Defense personnel and foreign women during and up to nine months after deployment in order to facilitate and expedite the immigration of these children and women to the United States.

     WHEREAS, children born to military or civilian United States Department of Defense personnel, during or up to nine months after deployment in a foreign country are not automatically conferred status as United States citizens or nationals; and

     WHEREAS, on the other hand, children born within the United States are automatically accorded citizenship or national status, depending on the mother's status; and

     WHEREAS, Department of Defense personnel are frequently deployed to areas where public health facilities are unable to assist the mothers of these children and the fathers are frequently rotated out; and

     WHEREAS, children up to age five are most vulnerable to adverse health outcomes and this is exacerbated in many areas where Department of Defense personnel are deployed; and

     WHEREAS, conferring status as a citizen or national to children born to Department of Defense personnel during or up to nine months after deployment in a foreign country would:

(1)  Facilitate the father's expression of responsibility to the child by shortening the process by which both the child and the mother may immigrate to the United States; and

(2)  Help restore the ethical standing of the United States by enabling its overseas military representatives to assume proper responsibility for their actions by not abandoning an army of children behind when they leave; and

     WHEREAS, legislation to enable this to occur can be fashioned to protect the privacy of medical records of Department of Defense personnel involved; now, therefore,

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-fourth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2008, the Senate concurring, that the President of the United States and members of the United States Congress are strongly urged to enact legislation to confer priority status to children born to Department of Defense personnel and foreign women during and up to nine months after deployment in order to facilitate and expedite the immigration of these children and women to the United States; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the President of the United States, the Majority Leader of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of Homeland Security, the Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and members of Hawaii's congressional delegation.

OFFERED BY:

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Report Title: 

Children Born to Military During Foreign Deployment; Immigration