Opinion: Note to immigrants: You bring a richness to what we've created

Immigration is, and will continue to be, a controversial topic.

The least controversial aspect, however, is naturalization. Becoming a U.S. citizen is the pinnacle of my practice, and it is the pinnacle of the immigration process.

Last week, I was honored to be asked to be the keynote speaker for the swearing-in of 30 new citizens at a courthouse in the suburbs of Philadelphia.

These were my remarks:

Most people, when asked to give an address before an audience say that “it is a great honor,” and I am sure that they mean it.

But for me, I can assure you that this is something special. I have practiced immigration law for almost 30 years, and in that time I have been to many naturalization ceremonies, usually accompanying one of my clients.

But I was never before asked to be a part of the actual ceremony. Today, I feel as if we are sharing this incredible, deeply important experience together.

This is a day to celebrate all of you. I do not know you personally, but I think I do know you.

I know what you might have faced, in coming to a strange country whose language you might not have initially spoken well, or at all.

I know what it must have been like to, in some cases, have left your entire family abroad, not sure of when you would see them again.

I know what it probably felt like to be called “an immigrant,” during periods when that was not an easy thing to be.

I have practiced immigration law under five presidents: Clinton, Bush, Obama, Trump, Biden and will be practicing again, under Trump.

I turned 63 a week ago today, so I should be doing this for at least another four years. I anticipate difficulties, and changes.

But the one thing that I know, is that you, here, are the reason that this system persists, and will continue to function.

That’s because there will always be people like you, who found something so exceptional, so special, so important in the United States that you were compelled to make this country your home.

It could be that you fell in love with a U.S. citizen, got your green card through him or her, and then filed for naturalization.

It could be that you have special skills and an employer sponsored you to do great things and contribute to the economy or research or social services, and then decided to become a citizen.

In what I consider to be the most moving cases, many of which I have seen over the years, you fled persecution in your home country, and then became a green card holder, and now chose to become a citizen of the country that gave you safe harbor.

In fact, that just happened for one of my clients last month, a man from Pakistan who had fought against the Taliban in his own country.

Every one of you has a different story, and every story is part of the great mosaic that makes this country as exceptional as it is.

Ronald Reagan, my favorite president, called us “a shining city on a hill.” In many ways, immigrants have made us that.

I use the term “mosaic,” instead of the traditional “melting pot” term, because I think it more accurately reflects who and what we are.

Each of you are bringing the richness of your ancestral homes, your traditions and cultures and histories, and adding them to what we have created here.

“Melting” implies “becoming one lump or mass,” whereas “mosaic” preserves the beauty and integrity of each separate part of the larger picture.

The larger picture is this country, and each of you brings something unique to it, a very special aspect of its beauty.

When you become a U.S. citizen, you do not stop being the person you always were, the person formed in your native land. You do not stop being a Guinean, a Liberian, a Russian, a Khazak, a Bahamian, an Indian, a Jamaican, a citizen of the U.K., a Sri Lankan, a Honduran.

You do not erase that most profound part of you. What you are doing is adding a layer of fabulousness to what already exists.

Politics change. Politicians change. Elections happen, time passes and slogans morph into other slogans.

The way we look at the world changes. The world, itself, changes. That is all transient.

But what you are doing here, and what you are becoming, is permanent.

It is the thing that makes this country as exceptional as it is.

We truly are a nation of immigrants, and even though you are now a part of this country in the most intimate and important way, your immigrant histories will make you the truest, and most “American” Americans of all.

Welcome!

Christine Flowers is a columnist for the Delaware County Daily Times. Contact her at:

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