BALTIMORE, Md. – Senator Barbara A. Mikulski and Congressman Elijah E. Cummings (both D-Md.) today held a ceremony at Fort McHenry to present the Kendell Frederick Citizenship Act to the fallen soldier’s family. The Kendell Frederick Citizenship Act, which was accepted by Kendell’s mother Michelle Murphy, will make it easier for military service members to become U.S. citizens and demands better coordination among U.S. immigration and military officials. It was signed into law last week by President Bush. Despite a request from Senator Mikulski and Congressman Cummings, the President declined to hold a formal ceremony for the bill signing.

The Team Maryland colleagues originally introduced this legislation in December 2005, following the death of U.S. Army Spc. Kendell Frederick of Randallstown, Md., in Iraq. A citizen of Trinidad, Spc. Frederick, 21, was serving as a U.S. Army generator mechanic. He did not usually leave the base, but on October 19, 2005, he was sent off in a convoy to get fingerprinted in order to process his citizenship application. En route, he was killed when the convoy hit a roadside bomb. Spc. Frederick had tried for more than a year to become a U.S. citizen, but his application was delayed several times due to miscommunication and misinformation from the U.S. government. He was granted citizenship a week after he died.

“Every military death in Iraq is a tragedy, but this one did not need to happen. No one should ever again have to go through what Kendell and his mother went through. Today, we have truly honored Kendell Frederick and delivered on the promise we made to Mrs. Murphy more than two years ago,” said Senator Mikulski. “Kendell’s death will not be in vain. Our law will make sure that a green-card soldier who wants to become a US citizen will be able to do so, quickly and easily. If you are willing to fight and die for America, you should be able to become an American.”

“Losing our soldiers is a consequence of war that none of us wants to face, and the loss of Kendell Frederick is especially painful because there was no need for it to have happened,” Congressman Cummings said. “I cannot comprehend why President Bush would refuse to take 15 minutes of his time to honor a man whose love of this country cost him his life, but I am honored to join Senator Mikulski today in offering this important legislation—and all that it symbolizes—the proper recognition it deserves.”

The Kendell Frederick Citizenship Assistance Act will make it easier for service members to get their citizenship applications processed, and demands better coordination between the military and immigration officials. The provisions cut through the red tape by:

• Directing the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to use fingerprints provided by individuals at the time of enlistment to satisfy any fingerprint requirements as part of an application for naturalization.

• Ensuring that enlistment fingerprints are provided in an acceptable form for the naturalization process once the application for citizenship is submitted.

• Requiring DHS to update any applications, instructions and guidebooks, and the DHS website when naturalization procedures pertaining to members of the military are changed.

Importantly, the bill does not change existing safeguards in the naturalization process that prevent abuse of the process by those seeking to harm our country.