Grieving mother spurs change in US citizenship law

U.S. Army Spc. Kendell Frederick lost his life while trying to become a citizen of the country he was fighting for. A native of Trinidad, Frederick came to the US when he was 15 years old. He was active in his high school's ROTC program and joined the Army right after graduation, signing up for eight years. Just before he left for Iraq in 2004, Frederick applied for citizenship, but his application became mired in red tape.

They said he had not paid a filing fee which is actually waived for military personnel. They said he needed to make changes on the forms. Finally, officials gave him two weeks to come to Baltimore to have his fingerprints retaken, even though they were on record with the military. "I couldn't understand that because it stated on his application that he was in Iraq," his mother said. "You've got men overseas fighting and you don't have anything in place to help them?"

Eventually, Frederick arranged with immigration officials to get his fingerprints retaken in Iraq. He was killed on the way to a nearby base to resolve the fingerprint issue.

Sen. Barbara Mikulski heard about Frederick's case when she called Mrs. Murphy, who told Mikulski she wanted to help prevent military personnel from going through what Frederick had experienced. Thanks to their efforts, a new law has just passed: H.R. 2884: Kendell Frederick Citizenship Assistance Act could help more than 33,000 non-citizens serving in the military.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080627/...UbXExf9hJvzwcF

He was fighting for our country and they had to do that. I just dont understand.
If you can fight for our country and die for our country why should you have so much trouble being a member of our country. I hope that his family can find some comfort in this new law