Proposed amendment: According to proposed new § 332(a)(i)(2) of the Act, an applicant shall be required to describe any criminal offenses, other than minor traffic violations, during the course of the mandatory interview.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
INS response: This provision is unnecessary. It is already an INS policy requirement that naturalization applicants be requested to submit final dispositions for all criminal offenses. In the alternative we request that this language be amended to omit references to "minor traffic violations." To leave this reference in place could prove confusing and misleading, and could result in an applicant's withholding information that is relevant to his or her application. Depending on the actual statutory elements of an offense, what may be called "minor traffic violations" could render an applicant ineligible for naturalization. For example, in California, failure to appear in court, a violation of § 40508A of the Vehicle Code, and failure to pay a fine, a violation of § 40508B of the Vehicle Code, are both misdemeanor violations, regardless of the underlying offenses. Accordingly, if an applicant for naturalization has recently failed to pay a fine resulting from a simple parking ticket, he or she may have been convicted of a misdemeanor offense of failure to pay the fine, and may be on probation. An applicant who is on probation is ineligible to naturalize. Again, depending on the state, an examining officer may be compelled to investigate "minor" traffic violations, because they may lead to offenses or dispositions that render an applicant ineligible for naturalization by statute. The proposed amendment in the bill is too limiting and does not take into account local or state law
