[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2006, Book I)]
[March 27, 2006]
[Pages 572-576]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]
Remarks at a Naturalization Ceremony
March 27, 2006
Thank you all. Thank you very much. It's good to be with you. I am
grateful for the chance to witness this joyous and uplifting ceremony.
It is inspiring to see people of many different ages, many different
countries raise their hands and swear an oath to become citizens of the
United States of America.
For some of you, this day comes after a long and difficult journey.
For all of you, this is a defining moment in your lives. America is now
more than your home; America is your country. I welcome you to this free
nation. I congratulate you and your families, and it's an honor to call
you fellow Americans.
I appreciate the Attorney General. Dr. Gonzales, thank you, sir. And, Alfonso,
it's good to be up here with you. I want to thank the president general
of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Ms. Presley
Wagoner, for letting us use this
fantastic facility for this important ceremony. Thank you for singing
the national anthem so beautifully.
It is fitting that we hold this ceremony at the home of the
Daughters of the American Revolution. The Daughters of the American
Revolution were the daughters of immigrants, because the leaders of our
Revolution all had ancestors who came from abroad. As new citizens of
the United States, you now walk in the footsteps of millions. And with
the oath you've sworn, you're every bit as American as those who came
before you.
Our immigrant heritage has enriched America's history. It continues
to shape our society. Each generation of immigrants brings a renewal to
our national character and adds vitality to our culture. Newcomers have
a special way of appreciating the opportunities of America, and when
they seize those opportunities, our whole nation benefits.
In the 1970s, an immigrant from Ireland--or the 1790s, an immigrant
from Ireland designed the White House, right where Laura and I live. And he helped build the Capitol. In the
1990s, an immigrant from Russia helped create
the Internet search engine Google. In between, new citizens have made
contributions in virtually every professional field, and millions of
newcomers have strengthened their communities through quiet lives of
hard work and family and faith.
America's welcoming society is more than a cultural tradition; it is
a fundamental promise of our democracy. Our Constitution does not limit
citizenship by background or birth. Instead, our Nation is bound
together by a shared love of liberty and a conviction that all people
are created with dignity and value. Through the generations, Americans
have upheld that vision by welcoming new citizens from across the globe,
and that has made us stand apart.
One of my predecessors, President Ronald Reagan, used to say this:
``You can go to live in France, but you cannot become a Frenchman. You
can go to live in Japan, but you cannot become Japanese. But anyone,
from any corner of the world, can come to live in America and be an
American.''
The new Americans we welcome today include men and women from 20
countries on 5 continents. Their ages range from 18 to 59, and they work
as teachers and small-business managers and nurses and software
engineers and other professions.
One new citizen is Veronica Pacheco.
Veronica first came to the United States from Bolivia 15 years ago. In
2000, she moved here permanently and found a job at a catering company
in Virginia. Every Friday and Saturday, she spent 5 hours studying
English at the local community college. Over the years, she saved enough
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money to buy her own townhouse. Here's what Veronica says about America:
``This is a country of opportunity. If you want to be successful, you
can do it. You can have your dreams come true here.''
Another new citizen is Maisoon Shahin.
Maisoon grew up in Kuwait and moved to the United States with her
husband 7 years ago. She enrolled in the community college to improve
her English, took a job teaching marines to speak Arabic. Here's what
Maisoon said: ``The United States is a symbol of justice, freedom, and
liberty. I love that. Here they respect people because they are people.
I feel I am honored, and I feel that I'm loved.''
America is stronger and more dynamic when we welcome new citizens
like Maisoon and Veronica to our democracy. With that in mind, I've called on
Congress to increase the number of green cards that can lead to
citizenship. I support increasing the number of visas available for
foreign-born workers in highly skilled fields like science, medicine,
and technology. I've signed legislation creating a new Office of
Citizenship at the Department of Homeland Security to promote knowledge
of citizenship rights and procedures.
And after September the 11th, I signed an Executive order making
foreign-born members of our military immediately eligible for
citizenship, because those willing to risk their lives for our democracy
should be full participants in our democracy. Over the past 4 years,
more than 20,000 men and women in uniform have become citizens of the
country they serve. They've taken the citizenship oath on the decks of
aircraft carriers, on deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq, and at
military bases around the world. At Bethesda Naval Medical Center, I
watched a brave marine born in Mexico
raise his right hand and become a citizen of the country he had defended
in uniform for more than 26 years. It's a privilege to be the Commander
in Chief of men and women like these, and I'm proud to call them fellow
citizens.
All who swear the oath of citizenship are doing more than completing
a legal process; they're making a lifelong pledge to support the values
and the laws of America. The pledge comes with great privileges, and it
also comes with great responsibilities. I believe every new citizen has
an obligation to learn the customs and values that define our Nation,
including liberty and civic responsibility, equality under God,
tolerance for others, and the English language.
Those of us who have been citizens for many years have
responsibilities as well. Helping new citizens assimilate is a mission
that unites Americans by choice and by birth. I appreciate the work of
patriotic organizations like the Daughters of the American Revolution.
Some of the new Americans here today might have used DAR's Manual for
Citizenship to prepare you for the citizenship test. They obviously did
a pretty good job, since you passed. [Laughter]
Many other organizations, from churches to businesses to civic
organizations, are answering the call to help new citizens succeed in
our country. And I am grateful for all those who reach out to people who
are going to become citizens.
Government is doing its part to help new citizens succeed as well.
The Office of Citizenship has created a new official guide for
immigrants. This free publication includes practical advice on tasks
like finding housing and jobs or enrolling your children in school or
paying taxes.
We're conducting outreach programs with faith-based and community
groups to offer civics and English language courses. My administration
will continue to pursue policies that open a path to education and jobs,
promote ownership, and to give every citizen a chance to realize the
American Dream.
Our Nation is now in the midst of the debate on immigration policy,
and it's good. Immigration is an important topic. Immigration is also an
emotional topic, and we
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need to maintain our perspective as we conduct this debate. At its core,
immigration is a sign of a confident and successful nation. It says
something about our country that people around the world are willing to
leave their homes and leave their families and risk everything to come
to America. Their talent and hard work and love of freedom have helped
make America the leader of the world. And our generation will ensure
that America remains a beacon of liberty and the most hopeful society
the world has ever known.
America is a nation of immigrants, and we're also a nation of laws.
All of you are here because you followed the rules and you waited your
turn in the citizenship line. Yet some violate our immigration laws and
enter our country illegally, and that undermines the system for all of
us. America should not have to choose between being a welcoming society
and being a lawful society. We can be both at the same time. And so, to
keep the promise of America, we must enforce the laws of America.
We must also reform those laws. No one is served by an immigration
system that allows large numbers of people to sneak across the border
illegally. Nobody benefits when illegal immigrants live in the shadows
of society. Everyone suffers when people seeking to provide for their
families are left at the mercy of criminals or stuffed in the back of
18-wheelers or abandoned in the desert to die. America needs
comprehensive immigration reform.
I've laid out a proposal for comprehensive immigration reform that
includes three critical elements: securing the border, strengthening
immigration enforcement inside our country, and creating a temporary-
worker program. These elements depend on and reinforce one another, and
together they will give America an immigration system that meets the
needs of the 21st century.
The first element is securing our border. Our immigration system
cannot function if we cannot control the border. Illegal immigration
puts a strain on law enforcement and public resources, especially in our
border communities. Our Nation is also fighting a war on terror, and
terrorists crossing the border could create destruction on a massive
scale. The responsibility of Government is clear: We must enforce the
border.
Since I took office, we've increased funding for border security by
66 percent. We've expanded the Border Patrol to more than 12,000 agents,
an increase of more than 2,700 agents. And the budget next year funds
another 1,500 new agents. We're helping these dedicated men and women do
their jobs by providing them with cutting-edge technology like infrared
cameras, advanced motion sensors, and unmanned aerial vehicles. We're
installing protective infrastructure, such as vehicle barriers and
fencing in urban areas, to prevent people from crossing the border
illegally. And we're integrating manpower and technology and
infrastructure in more unified ways than ever. Our objective is to keep
the border open to trade and tourism and closed to criminals and drug
dealers and terrorists.
Our strategy to secure the border is getting results. Since I took
office, our agents have apprehended and sent home more than 6 million
people entering this country illegally, including more than 400,000 with
criminal records. Federal, State, and local and travel enforcement
officials are working side by side. Through the Arizona Border Control
Initiative, we apprehended more than 600,000 illegal immigrants in
Arizona last year. The men and women of our Border Patrol have made good
progress, but we have much more work ahead, and we cannot be satisfied
until we're in full control of the border.
We're also changing the way we process those we catch crossing the
border illegally. More than 85 percent of the illegal immigrants we
apprehend are from Mexico, and most are sent back home within 24 hours.
We face a different challenge with non-
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Mexicans. For decades, Government detention facilities did not have
enough beds for the non-Mexican illegal immigrants caught at the border,
and so most were released back into society. They were each assigned a
court date, but virtually nobody showed up. This practice of catch-and-
release is unwise, and my administration is going to end it.
To end catch-and-release, we're increasing the number of beds and
detention facilities by 12 percent this year and by another 32 percent
next year. We're also expanding our use of a process called expedited
removal, which allows us to send non-Mexican illegal immigrants home
more quickly.
Last year, it took an average of 66 days to process one of these
illegal immigrants. Now we're doing it in 21 days. The goal is to
increase the process faster. It's helped us end the catch-and-release
for illegal immigrants from Brazil and Guatemala, Honduras, and
Nicaragua caught crossing our Southwest border. And since last summer,
we've cut the number of non-Mexican illegal immigrants released in
society by more than a third. We've set a goal to end catch-and-release
over the next year. I look forward to working with Congress to close
loopholes that makes it difficult for us to process illegal immigrants
from certain countries. And we will continue to press foreign
Governments like China to take back their citizens who have entered our
country illegally.
When illegal immigrants know they're going to be caught and sent
home, they will be less likely to break the rules in the first place.
And the system will be more orderly and secure for those who follow the
law.
The second part of a comprehensive immigration reform is
strengthening enforcement of our laws in the interior of our country.
Since I took office, we've increased funding for immigration enforcement
by 42 percent, and these resources have helped our agents bring to
justice some very dangerous people: smugglers, terrorists, gang members,
and human traffickers. For example, through Operation Community Shield,
Federal agents have arrested nearly 2,300 gang members who were here
illegally, including violent criminals like the members of MS-13.
Better interior enforcement also requires better worksite
enforcement. Businesses have an obligation to abide by the law. The
Government has the responsibility to help them do so. Last year, I
signed legislation to more than double the resources dedicated to
worksite enforcement. We'll continue to confront the problem of document
fraud, because hard-working businessowners should not have to act as
detectives to verify the status of their workers.
Next month, we're going to launch law enforcement task forces in 11
major cities to dismantle document fraud rings. We're working to shut
down the forgers who create the phony documents, to stop the smugglers
who traffic in human beings, and to ensure that American businesses are
compliant with American law.
The third part of comprehensive immigration reform is to make the
system more rational, orderly, and secure by creating a new temporary-
worker program. This program would provide a legal way to match willing
foreign workers with willing American employers to fill the jobs that
Americans are unwilling to do. Workers should be able to register for
legal status on a temporary basis. If they decide to apply for
citizenship, they would have to get in line. This program would help
meet the demands of a growing economy and would allow honest workers to
provide for their families while respecting the law.
A temporary-worker program is vital to securing our border. By
creating a separate legal channel for those entering America to do an
honest day's labor, we would dramatically reduce the number of people
trying to sneak back and forth across the border. That would help take
the pressure off
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the border and free up law enforcement to focus on the greatest threats
to our security, which are criminals and drug dealers and terrorists.
The program would also improve security by creating tamper-proof
identification cards that would allow us to keep track of every
temporary worker who is here on a legal basis and help us identify those
who are here illegally.
One thing the temporary-worker program should not do is provide
amnesty for people who are in our country illegally. I believe granting
amnesty would be unfair, because it would allow those who break the law
to jump ahead of people like you all, people who play by the rules and
have waited in the line for citizenship.
Amnesty would also be unwise, because it would encourage future
waves of illegal immigration, it would increase pressure on the border,
and make it difficult for law enforcement to focus on those who mean us
harm. For the sake of justice and border security, I firmly oppose
amnesty.
This week, the Senate plans to consider legislation on immigration
reform. Congress needs to pass a comprehensive bill that secures the
border, improves interior enforcement, and creates a temporary-worker
program to strengthen our security and our economy. Completing a
comprehensive bill is not going to be easy. It will require all of us in
Washington to make tough choices and make compromises, and that is
exactly what the American people sent us here to do.
As we move toward the process, we also have a chance to move beyond
tired choices and the harsh attitudes of the past. The immigration
debate should be conducted in a civil and dignified way. No one should
play on people's fears or try to pit neighbors against each other. No
one should pretend that immigrants are threats to American identity
because immigrants have shaped America's identity.
No one should claim that immigrants are a burden on our economy
because the work and enterprise of immigrants helps sustain our economy.
We should not give into pessimism. If we work together, I'm confident we
can meet our duty to fix our immigration system and deliver a bill that
protects our people, upholds our laws, and makes our people proud.
It's a joyful day for all of you, and it's one you'll always
remember. When you came here this morning, I was the President of
another country. Now I'm the President of your country, and I'm grateful
for that honor. I wish you good luck as citizens of the greatest Nation
on the face of the Earth.
May God bless you and your families, and may God continue to bless
America. Thank you very much.
Note: The President spoke at 10:12 a.m. at the DAR Administration
Building. In his remarks, he referred to Alfonso Aguilar, Chief, Office
of Citizenship, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The Office of
the Press Secretary also released a Spanish language transcript of these
remarks.