Brilliant!
I saw this article from the San Gabriel Valley Tribune and was delighted. I've mentioned it a few times on other blogs, but I decided to hold off on blogging it here until the Fourth of July holiday. It just seemed appropriate.
LOS ANGELES - The line of people waiting to get into the west hall of the Los Angeles Convention Center on Saturday morning grew by scores every few minutes.
Also around that time, hundreds of people from all over the world converged at the National Orange Show Events Center in San Bernardino.
The Congressional Hispanic Caucus and other national groups launched the first-ever National Citizenship Day on Saturday to assist the 14.2 million U.S. legal immigrants eligible for naturalization - 3 million of them in California. Thirteen states took part in the aggressive citizenship effort.
At both locations, permanent residents of the United States came to start the process to citizenship by filling out N-400 forms, the federal government's naturalization application.
By 10 a.m. at the convention center, an estimated 5,000 people from across Los Angeles County were either filling out applications or waiting for assistance. [Emphasis added]
How wonderful is that? And how canny...
At a time when the knuckleheaded right is immigrant bashing and rousing emotions against those who have come here from other countries (and most of our families have come that route), wiser heads have decided to take a more positive measure. I'm sure that the same members of the knuckleheaded right will scream "Foul!" at this action, but let them. The move is a dramatic demonstration of what is still right with America, and frankly, we need a lot more of that.
I think it safe to say that few if any of these applications will result in new citizens before the November elections, but that's ok with me. It will show that millions of people from Latin America, from Asia, from Africa, from the Middle East, from Europe still have enough faith in the principles this country was founded on to take this step.
I don't imagine that all of these new citizens will vote Democrat, but that's ok, too. The thing about brand new citizens is that most of them do vote when given the opportunity. And maybe that will shame the rest of us into doing likewise.
Welcome to America, my sisters and brothers!
And thank you.
LOS ANGELES - The line of people waiting to get into the west hall of the Los Angeles Convention Center on Saturday morning grew by scores every few minutes.
Also around that time, hundreds of people from all over the world converged at the National Orange Show Events Center in San Bernardino.
The Congressional Hispanic Caucus and other national groups launched the first-ever National Citizenship Day on Saturday to assist the 14.2 million U.S. legal immigrants eligible for naturalization - 3 million of them in California. Thirteen states took part in the aggressive citizenship effort.
At both locations, permanent residents of the United States came to start the process to citizenship by filling out N-400 forms, the federal government's naturalization application.
By 10 a.m. at the convention center, an estimated 5,000 people from across Los Angeles County were either filling out applications or waiting for assistance. [Emphasis added]
How wonderful is that? And how canny...
At a time when the knuckleheaded right is immigrant bashing and rousing emotions against those who have come here from other countries (and most of our families have come that route), wiser heads have decided to take a more positive measure. I'm sure that the same members of the knuckleheaded right will scream "Foul!" at this action, but let them. The move is a dramatic demonstration of what is still right with America, and frankly, we need a lot more of that.
I think it safe to say that few if any of these applications will result in new citizens before the November elections, but that's ok with me. It will show that millions of people from Latin America, from Asia, from Africa, from the Middle East, from Europe still have enough faith in the principles this country was founded on to take this step.
I don't imagine that all of these new citizens will vote Democrat, but that's ok, too. The thing about brand new citizens is that most of them do vote when given the opportunity. And maybe that will shame the rest of us into doing likewise.
Welcome to America, my sisters and brothers!
And thank you.
posted by Diane at 7:17 AM
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