One of my most prized possessions is the framed photograph I have of my father and his parents, immigrants from Finland, with my grandfather’s naturalization certificate issued in 1916. My grandfather had studied English, learned to read and write it, no small matter when his native language was a non-European based language.
Today learning to read and write English is still no small matter, even for people whose native languages are European based. In addition, applicants must pass a history and civics test that most native Americans would fail, miserably. And, in spite of claims that people are not vetted properly, it is the rare instance that someone is naturalized when he or she shouldn’t be.
Now our esteemed President, whose mother was a naturalized citizen, wants to begin an intensive program of denaturalization, stripping people of their citizenship, the most precious possession any of us can have. The law is clear about this process, and it is rare. We cannot let it become politicized so that naturalized citizens are afraid to speak their minds or participate in the political process. Is this another move to autocracy?
Prayer for the Day
Vulnerable and uneasy, we pray that you will give us hope, O God,
Though the world around us can only see the tinsel, not the light;
Anxious and troubled, we search for hope that seems to elude us,
While the world goes about marketing our dreams.
Yet, deep inside, we know our hope rests in you, O Holy One,
Lighting the dark places of deception and subterfuge.
In the name of the One who is our hope,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
My fear would be that as we have seen in the arrest and removal context when D.H.S. employees are given arbitrary targets what happens is people who shouldn’t be swept up, get swept up and that you’re going to see that happening to people in this context as well. That could incite fear and terror amongst naturalized citizens.
Margy O’Herron, a senior fellow at the Brennan Center
Requiring monthly quotas that are 10 times higher than the total annual number of denaturalizations in recent years turns a serious and rare tool into a blunt instrument and fuels unnecessary fear and uncertainty for the millions of naturalized Americans.
Sarah Pierce, former USCIS official
You have taken up my cause, O Lord,
You have redeemed my life.
You have seen the wrong done to me, O Lord; judge my cause.
You have seen all their malice, all their plots against me.
Lamentations of Jeremiah 3: 58-60