Biden Govt To Push Millions Of Immigrants To Apply For US Citizenship
LAGOS JULY 3RD (NEWSRANGERS)-The Biden administration launched a government-wide effort aimed at encouraging millions of immigrants to apply to become U.S. citizens, the Department of Homeland Security announced Friday.
Officials at its U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services agency debuted an inter-agency plan to make the 9 million lawful permanent residents who may be eligible to apply for citizenship aware and help them do so. The announcement was timed for the Fourth of July, when the United States celebrates its independence.
“New citizens, strengthened with the power and responsibilities that American citizenship brings, make our Nation better,” DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a press release. “This strategy will ensure that aspiring citizens are able to pursue naturalization through a clear and coordinated process.”
The new move stems from President Joe Biden’s executive order earlier this year that called for the U.S. government to come up with and implement “welcoming strategies that promote inclusion, and citizenship.”
Some upcoming naturalization ceremonies will take place at national parks as opposed to federal buildings, while U.S. Postal Services will display posters inside storefront locations about applying for citizenship. The Department of Veterans Affairs will work with veteran organizations to educate its noncitizen members about becoming U.S. citizens. These initiatives are meant to put the issue in the spotlight and raise awareness among the public.
Biden is slated to participate in a naturalization ceremony Friday. It is one of 100 ceremonies that will take place between June 30 and July 7 in honor of the U.S. independence holiday.
While previous administrations have celebrated naturalization ceremonies and encouraged immigrants to apply, the Biden administration’s new actions are a step beyond the norm and those of his predecessor. The Trump administration had encouraged noncitizens to go about entering the U.S. legally but simultaneously made it harder for some classes of people, including family members of immigrants in the U.S., to be admitted. That was on the basis that immigrants should be admitted by skill and wealth, not relationships to family in the country.
Naturalization ceremonies were far and few during the coronavirus pandemic, given the health risk of gathering people in an enclosed space.
Washington Examiner
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Posted by News Rangers
on Jul 3 2021. Filed under International, National.
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