Legal Immigration Often Ignored in Debate

November 3, 2008 · As friends and family members of immigrants who will be sworn in as naturalized, United States citizens wait for the ceremony to begin a military band playing patriotic tunes.

Mario Ortiz, District Director for the San Antonio District of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services says there are several reasons an immigrant decides to become a U.S. citizen.  

This being a presidential election year, he says, many want to be sure they make their voices heard.  Ortiz says the San Antonio Citizenship and Immigration field office will have a record number year, naturalizing nearly 80 percent more individuals this year than last.

In 2007, about seventy-five hundred immigrants became naturalized citizens.  For the fiscal year 2008, the number of oaths administered totaled 14,714, the highest number in the history of the San Antonio field office.

One individual who was naturalized this day was Zach Singh.  He came to the United States nearly seventeen years ago from India under a student visa.  Singh says the reason he became an American citizen was ultimately because he had graduated, had been working in the U.S. for a while and decided to legalize the process because he wanted to take an active part in the political process.

Ortiz says he and the other immigration officers are often humbled and inspired during the naturalization ceremonies, especially after spending all day with immigrants and hearing their stories of sacrifice and struggle in order to become United States citizens. 

He says it also takes a lot of determination and guts and a lot of faith, because that’s what one needs when immigrating to a new country and to learn a new culture, to learn a new language.

One such individual is Nadee Marasinghe of Sri Lanka.  She says she has lived in the United States off and on for a little more than twenty-two years.  She is currently a housewife, but has earned a bachelor’s degree in Psychology and a Master’s in Sociology.  Marasinghe says since she’s lived in the U.S. longer than she has in her native country. She feels at home here and wants to be a part of it now. 

Marashinghe says “It’s been a very long journey, and it’s been tough. You know getting the right visa and protecting that and working towards the next step; lot of memories, and it’s a very significant thing.”

More than 200 immigrants were sworn in as naturalized citizens during this ceremony.  District Director Mario Ortiz says this is the side of the immigration debate that doesn’t get reported often.  He says thousands follow the rules and do everything the right way to become United States citizens. 

“The fact that there are, on any given day in this country, there are about three thousand people who become immigrants to this country.  And so we still have an infusion of new blood in this country every single day and our system of legal immigration is still very much alive.”

Last month, a little more than twenty-three hundred immigrants became naturalized citizens in the seven ceremonies held in September; the highest monthly total for the San Antonio field office.  Six naturalization ceremonies were held in October and seven are scheduled during the month of November.  The leading country of birth for naturalized citizens was Mexico, followed by India, the Philippines, the People’s Republic of China, and Vietnam.