Weekend Reading: Highlights from this week’s immigration news (June 27- July 1)
Date: July 1, 2016
As the Fourth of July weekend begins, we celebrate an inspiring group of famous naturalized citizens who have been honored by the Carnegie Corporation of New York as the “Pride of America.” Honorees include Hari Sreenivasan, anchor and senior Correspondent for PBS NewsHour; Wolfgang Puck, chef and restaurateur; Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google; Jan Koum, cofounder and CEO of WhatsApp; and Samantha Bee, actress and comedian; among many others! See the full list.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that this July 4th weekend, which also marks the 240th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, it will grant citizenship to more than 7,000 foreign-born individuals during nearly 100 naturalization ceremonies across America. “These new Americans will strengthen the fabric of our nation with their contributions to American society and prosperity, and be able to enjoy all the rights, privileges, and responsibilities of U.S. citizenship,” said USCIS Director León Rodríguez.
USA Today’s Susan Page reports on “a new survey by Ipsos Public Affairs [that] tested more than 2,000 respondents on some of the questions included on the exam immigrants must pass as part of the process of gaining citizenship….Ninety percent or more knew that the Supreme Court is the highest court in the land, that the presidential election is held in November, and that the flag has 13 stripes to represent the original 13 colonies.”
So that leads us to ask, “Could you pass an American citizenship test?” This question is also posed by WQAD8’s Katrina Lamansky, reporting from Quad Cities, a region of four counties in Northwest Illinois and Southeastern Iowa. Take her quiz composed of questions from the Citizens Resource Center study guide, which preps immigrants for the official test to become naturalized citizens.
In case you missed it:
Independence day is also an opportunity to honor those who keep America safe and free, our U.S. Armed Forces. Check out PNAE’s report, “An Unheralded Contribution: Honoring America’s Fallen Foreign-Born Service Members Post 9/11,” which looks at the number of immigrants who have made the ultimate sacrifice: giving their lives in service on America’s battlefields in Iraq and Afghanistan.
