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| Becoming U.S. Citizens at the Museum (Photo credit: national museum of american history) |
07/04/2012 07:00 AM EDT
For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
Contact: 202-282-8010
Office of the Press Secretary
Contact: 202-282-8010
WASHINGTON— Earlier today, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Director Alejandro Mayorkas joined President Barack Obama at the White House for a naturalization ceremony for 25 service members from 17 countries. Secretary Napolitano administered the Oath of Allegiance and delivered congratulatory remarks.
“We have a strong tradition as a welcoming nation, and our efforts ensure that the United States continues to draw people from across the world who contribute in important and innovative ways,” said Secretary Napolitano. “I am proud to swear in these brave men and women who have come from all over the world to serve our country and become its newest citizens.”
“These 25 exceptional individuals took an oath to ‘support and defend the Constitution’ before sharing fully in the rights and opportunities it provides,” said Director Mayorkas. “We are all inspired by their commitment to freedom and service to preserve our great nation.”
To commemorate America’s 236th birthday, USCIS is welcoming more than 4,000 new citizens during special naturalization ceremonies across the United States and overseas. Members of the U.S. armed forces will take the Oath of Allegiance to become citizens during six ceremonies for members of the U.S. armed forces at Kandahar Air Force Base, Afghanistan; U.S. Army Garrison Yongsan in Seoul, South Korea; Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas; Homestead-Miami Speedway in Florida.; the U.S. Ambassador’s Residence in Tegucigalpa, Honduras; and aboard the USS Midway Museum in San Diego.
For more information, visit www.dhs.gov.
America, So Get Over It
This may sound a little nasty… but the dumbest reason I’ve heard for legalizing the 11 million illegal aliens in the U.S. is “My grandparents got to come here. These people deserve the same chance.” I’ve heard that a lot lately. So let’s follow the logic of this notion and see where it leads us.
My Italian grandparents came here just about a century ago. My grandmother gave birth to 16 kids. Gee, wouldn’t it be great if every illegal-alien family currently in the U.S. had 16 kids? Since the Supreme Court already ruled 20 years ago that the children of illegals are entitled to a K-12 public education, our school districts would experience a spectacular increase in classroom diversity. Since we lack a national “English-only” law, the classroom teachers would no-doubt embrace the challenge of mainstreaming these kids under the “No Child Left Behind” Act. My senior-citizen neighbors --- many of whom already are struggling to pay their school taxes --- will undoubtedly grin and bear the added burden.
Once all these kids are educated and grown, half could stay at home to help their parents on the family farm while the other half could pack up their Conestoga wagons and head west to… whoops, I just remembered: The U.S. Interior Department declared the American frontier officially closed in 1896.
Just four years later in 1900 the U.S. Census counted 76,212,168 inhabitants in the U.S.A. In 2000 the Bureau counted 281,421,906 souls in America. That’s about 3.7 times as many people as a century earlier. This single fact might make a difference in some folks’ thinking.
Professor Marshall McLuhan, the Sixties media guru best remembered for “the media is the message,” also said that we lived (mentally) in “Bonanza-land.” Readers with a touch of gray at their temples will remember the popular weekly Western “Bonanza.” Younger eyes can take a gander at the retro-website http://bonanza1.com. They’re all there: Ben, big daddy and “the soul of Ponderosa,” the family’s mega-ranch; Adam, the wise-beyond-his-years eldest brother; Little Joe, the hot youngest brother, played by teen idol Michael Landon; and, Hoss, the lovable, lumbering family idiot, reminiscent of Lenny in “Of Mice and Men.”
My favorite from among the quotes posted on the “Bonanza” site is this Ben Cartwrightprofundity: "Well maybe I've never been to Heaven, and maybe I'm never going to get the chance, but Heaven is going to have to go some to beat the thousand square miles of the Ponderosa."
According to McLuhan (a Canadian), we Americans were driving down the road of life, looking into our rearview mirrors, where we saw the four Cartwright men riding side-by-side straight out of our TV screens. If the prophet of pop-culture could come back to 21 st century America, his opinion probably wouldn’t change. Just look at what we’re driving these days: Ford Mustangs, Jeep Cherokees, Dodge Dakotas, Honda Ridgelines (Motor Trend’s 2006 truck of the year, by the way), Hyundai Santa Fe’s and Tucsons.
The trouble is that, when we take our eyes away from that rearview mirror and stare out the front windshield, most of us never see the Ponderosa unrolling in front of us. More likely, we’re looking at the latest housing development, cheek-to-jowl with the newest strip mall, both of which we have plenty of time to ponder, because they’ve entailed the installation of yet another set of traffic lights. Or we may be gazing at yet another inner-city neighborhood, rundown and cluttered with trash.
Warm-hearted souls, who favor an open-door policy, ought to ask which Americans benefit and who loses, when our borders are left wide open and laws against hiring illegals go essentially un-enforced. Businesses wishing to keep their labor cost low are the big winners. Despite all the folklore that illegal aliens take jobs no American citizens want, our poorest citizens --- who, under current welfare rules, must enter the workforce --- suffer from illegal competition.
Bill Fletcher, former education director of the AFL-CIO and currently president ofTransAfrica Forum, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit, in 2004 told the Pacific News Service, “It's like an urban legend, which sees competition taking place everywhere. If African Americans were moving from lower to higher level jobs, there would be no reason for fear. But that's not the case." Black workers are not the only ones trapped in temporary, low-paying, no-benefit jobs, he added.
No, folks, this is not Bonanza-land. This isn't your grandpa’s America. Get your eyes off that rearview mirror. Get over it.
10 Reasons We Need The DREAM Act
December 03, 2010
03:25 PM EDT
In the coming days, Congress will vote on the DREAM Act – a common-sense piece of legislation drafted by both Republicans and Democrats that will give young people who grew up in the United States a chance to contribute to our nation by pursuing a higher education or serving in the U.S. armed forces. It’s limited, targeted legislation that will allow only the best and brightest to earn their legal status, and applies to those brought to the United States as minors through no fault of their own by their parents, and who know no other home.
Here are 10 reasons we need the DREAM Act:
- Like Ginkgo Biloba, It’ll Make Us Smarter: Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has stated that passing the DREAM Act will “play an important part in the nation’s efforts to have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world by 2020,” something vital for America to remain competitive in today’s global economy.
- For Ivan Rosales: With the DREAM Act, young people like Ivan Rosales, who came to the United States when he was a year old, can become doctors and work towards a cure for cancer. Ivan’s brother, a National Guardsman, and his brother-in-law, an Iraq veteran, inspired his dream to serve as a doctor in the military, before going on to work as a cancer researcher. Without the DREAM Act, Ivan and others like him have no way to even stay in the country, much less serve it.
- Uncle Sam Says, The DREAM Act supports our troops: Secretary of Defense Gates has written to DREAM Act sponsors citing the rich precedent of non-citizens serving in the U.S. military and stating that “the DREAM Act represents an opportunity to expand [the recruiting] pool, to the advantage of military recruiting and readiness.
- For Gaby Pacheco: So Gaby Pacheco, who was the highest ranked J-ROTC student in her high school and president of her college student government, can serve in the Air Force and eventually live out her dream of working with special needs children.
- It Helps Separate The Bad Guys From The Good Guys: Secretary Napolitano believes this targeted legislation provides a firm but fair way to deal with innocent children brought to the U.S. at a young age so that the Department of Homeland Security can dedicate their enforcement resources to detaining and deporting criminals and those who pose a threat to our country.
- For David Cho: So David Cho, who graduated from high school with a 3.9 GPA, plays seven instruments and is the drum major at UCLA, can live his dream of serving the United States in the Air Force.
- It’s Bipartisan: The DREAM Act is a bipartisan piece of legislation designed to stop punishing innocent young people for the actions of their parents by giving them the chance to obtain legal status by pursuing a higher education, or by serving in the U.S. armed forces for the country they've grown up in and love as their own.
- For Cesar Vargas: So Cesar Vargas, a proud Brooklyn kid, can live his dream to serve in the military as a JAG officer or on the front line as an intelligence officer with the Marines. He wants to “earn [his] place next to the great heroes of our nation that have and are fighting to defend our Constitution."
- It Will Help Our Economy: According to a recent UCLA study, students that would be impacted by the DREAM Act could add between $1.4 to $3.6 trillion in taxable income to our economy over the course of careers, depending on how many ultimately gain legal status. According to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, the DREAM Act in its current form will cut the deficit by $1.4 billionand increase government revenues by $2.3 billion over the next 10 years.
- It’s The Right Thing To Do: It’s just plain common sense and it’s the right thing to do. For more information on the DREAM Act, view the fact sheet.
Stephanie Valencia is an Associate Director of the Office of Public Engagement
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