My heritage is Italian-Polish. My grandparents came to this country between 1890 and 1905 looking for a better way of life. They had skills that could earn them a living and contribute to the lives of the people in their communities. They came through Ellis Island, they settled on Long Island, raised families and made good lives for themselves away from the turmoil going on in Europe.
Now to become a citizen in the United States there was a procedure and the procedure began with the filing of a declaration of intention, which recorded the applicant’s oath to the clerk of the court that it was his or her bona fide intention to become a citizen of the United States, to reside permanently therein, and to renounce all allegiances to other nations. Within a period of 2 to 7 years after filing the declaration, the applicant could petition the court for citizenship, presenting at this time the affidavits of two witnesses with personal knowledge of the applicant, stating that the applicant had resided in the United States for at least 5 years and possessed a good moral character, emphasis on moral. The petition then became the subject of an investigation and hearing before a judge. Officials of the Bureau conducted preliminary examinations and submitted findings and recommendations to the court. The hearing before a judge was the last step in the procedure, provided the judge found the findings and recommendation of naturalization officials favorable and satisfactory. If so, the applicant would take an oath of allegiance to the U.S. Constitution and laws and renounce all foreign allegiances, and the judge would issue an order of admission to citizenship and grant the applicant a certificate of citizenship. However, a judge could also order a continuance of the investigation or deny the petition, listing the reasons for the denial.
I now live in California but I recently took some friends to Long Island to show them around the island. The island I grew up on. We took the train into Manhattan to visit the 911 memorial and decided to have lunch in Chinatown. It’s only about a mile and it was a beautiful day so we walked. We headed up Church Street and made the right on Canal Street. We were not ready for what we saw. I thought we were in the middle of the battle scene in Black Hawk Down. Corner after coner we witnessed the dregs of society. They were laying on the sidewalks half clothed druged out. We had to walk in the street to get around them. The Cambridge Dictionary describes dregs of society as a group of people in society who are immoral and of no value. Now when I say of no value I mean of no value to this country. God put value in all of us and he values each and every one of us.
So where did these people come from and how did they get here. They have absolutly no intensions of starting the procedure of citizenship. They have nothing to contribute to the american way of life. They had nothing to contribute in the countries they came from. That’s why there here. So how did they find their way to Canal Street? They are pouring across the southern border, and our northern border and it is all due to the liberal policies of our government. If the liberal politicians are looking for votes to keep them in power, their not gonna to find it in this crowd.
Abraham Lincoln said in a speech in 1838 “America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.” and letting people flood across our borders, unvetted will probably do the trick.
Now there’s a bright side to this story. We finished our meal in Chinatown and seeing as we made it unscathed through the streets of Little Mogadishu the first time around, we weren’t about to press our luck so we hailed a cab to get us back to Penn Station.
Our cab driver was an East Indian gentleman head dress and all. I sat up front with him and over the 20 minute ride we talked. He said he arrived in this country twenty five years ago and worked every menial job he could find somtimes two jobs until he had enough to buy his own cab. Now the Medallion which is the Certificate needed to operate a cab in New York City twenty five years ago was upwards of $50.000 but he worked and saved till he reached his goal. He now lives out on Long Island and comes into the city 6 days a week and works 12 to 15 hour days. Twenty years ago he applied for citizenship. He got sponsered and became a responsible U.S. citizen with somthing to contribute and that my friends is how you do it.
We go about our lives day in and day out and somtimes we loose site of the fact that we live in the greatest experiment this world has ever seen. The United States of America.
We can’t let the experiment fail.
Written by Walt Ryba October 11, 2023
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