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Skriven 2006-03-27 23:35:12 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (060327) for Mon, 2006 Mar 27
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President Attends Naturalization Ceremony
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For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
March 27, 2006

President Attends Naturalization Ceremony
DAR Administration Building
Washington, D.C.

President's Remarks view

˙˙˙˙˙ Fact Sheet: Comprehensive Immigration Reform: Securing Our Border,
Enforcing Our Laws, and Upholding Our Values ˙˙˙˙˙ In Focus: Immigration
˙˙˙˙˙

10:12 A.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT: 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. Gonz lez, 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 and 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 five 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 five hours studying English at the local community college. Over
the years she saved enough 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 Masoon Shaheen. Masoon grew up in Kuwait, and moved
to the United States with her husband seven years ago. She enrolled in the
community college to improve her English, took a job teaching Marines to
speak Arabic. Here's what Masoon 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
Masoon 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 four 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 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 the 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-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,
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 loop holes 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 work site 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 work site enforcement. We'll
continue to confront the problem of document fraud, because hard-working
business owners 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 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. (Applause.)

END 10:34 A.M. EST
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