As we anticipate Independence Day 2021, the prospect of celebrating it traditionally is somewhat hopeful as the pandemic slows down. With the nation still politically divided, however, many among us still seek naturalized U.S. citizenship, which remains a cornerstone of our democracy.
As with most topics covered by media outlets in the shadow of COVID19 for more than a year now, the Fourth-of-July citizenship ceremonies across the nation this summer will be seen through an altogether different lens. And clearly, the story of local ceremonies, including that in the State’s capital, Annapolis, in summer 2019 now seem like ancient history.
On July 4 that year, 22 soon-to-be citizens assembled at the city’s historic William Paca House before a capacity crowd. Representing 15 different countries and all continents except Antarctica, the candidates listened to Daniel Renaud from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (an agency of the Department of Homeland Security) and recited the “Oath of Allegiance:”
I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen, that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely and without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, so help me God.
Veteran reporter E. B. Furgurson III described the city scene in his article for the Capital Gazette: “bunting and flags…clusters of strapping military men…the coming hordes…scores of folding chairs…a standing-room-only crowd.”
The report also quoted speaker Renaud, who compared the ceremony to a birthday party, of sorts: “In this case, you give and get…Today you get the honor of citizenship, the responsibility of citizenship, you get new rights, new freedoms, new opportunities, and we invite you to take advantage of all those—run for office, vote, participate in your community.”
Renaud closed his remarks by advising the new citizens: “Don’t lose who you are. It is who you are that brought you to this place.”
Instead of Hope in 2020, Desperation
According to Kirsten Clark, executive director of Annapolis’ Center of Hope, the past year has been one of desperation for a number of those seeking U.S. citizenship in this region. Many who were in the process of naturalization and who happened to be in the service industry faced layoffs and closures, with a large number ineligible for benefits. “Some of them qualify for certain benefits, some do not,” Clark tells us for this story.
“Mixed established families, in which one couple files tax returns jointly but only one is a citizen and the other is not,” Clark says, are not eligible for federal stimulus payments. “Ultimately,” she points out, “the amount of resources our clients have is lower than the average American family.”
Last year, Director Clark said, the center saw “a lot of people reaching out to us for help…a 53 percent increase in cases,” with unemployment and housing issues “very high.” And this situation, even with vaccines becoming more readily available, has yet to improve.
The Federal Outlook
For official national insight into the naturalization process, we went to Waleska Casiano-Matos, an Annapolis-based immigration lawyer for the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). A native of the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, and thus a citizen, she noted that, even though July is the most well-known month when naturalization ceremonies take place, “the USCIS office celebrates naturalization ceremonies all year long.”
Surprisingly, Casiano-Matos revealed exclusively for this story that the Hispanic and Latino communities are the smallest groups represented in naturalization ceremonies in Maryland. Why? “The younger generations are more willing to apply for naturalization than the older ones. The reason is simple: Education.”
She notes that a large number of older Hispanics and Latinos in this country lack any formal education, and “many of them are illiterate.” The elders can become legal permanent residents (LPR), using an interpreter in the interview. To become citizens, however, they have to speak, read, and write English. “Given those circumstances,” Casiano-Matos admits, “they prefer to be LPR all their lives instead of applying for citizenship.”
Those populations have grown in the state of Maryland. According to her, “the undocumented portion of that population usually work in construction, restaurants, landscaping, and home-cleaning services.”
The USCIS official stresses that the naturalization process is complex, and exceptions are few. The Hispanic/Latino populations lack the formal education and the English skills to overcome the obstacles, and that’s why fewer Hispanics even take the test. “Also,” she says, “if you come from any country south of the border, chances are that you didn’t come to the country with a visa, and that significantly lowers the chances of ever becoming a citizen.”
When asked how the naturalization and citizenship process could be improved, Casiano-Matos quickly replies: “We need immigration law reform. For the naturalization process, more exceptions are needed to include those LPRs who cannot learn English simply because they cannot learn a second language, owing to the fact that they never really learned their first language. That’s a phenomenon you see mostly in the Latin American countries.”
Many who come from other countries, she stresses, “already have a visa and applied to come to the U.S. and were allowed in. Most are professionals or people who have been in school. There are exceptions, of course, but that’s the difference.”
Available Resources
The USCIS has books and many online resources to study for the exam, Casiano-Matos points out. And she also cites nonprofit organizations such as the aforementioned Center of Help, which has free classes to prepare aspirants to take the civics exam. “Our office helps applicants with their process,” Casiano-Matos says, “and we prepare them for the interview and accompany them to the interview itself.”
One obstacle to those of Hispanic and Latino descent, she cites, is that “people are afraid to apply for citizenship; they fear being denied and deported. And now, with the new ‘public charge’ rule, more and more people fear the application process.” That rule, incidentally, went into effect last year, defining a “public charge” as “an individual receiving one or more public benefits for a period of 12 months during a 36-month period.” As it applies to immigrants, it is imposed to refuse visas and permission to enter the country.
The message Casiano-Matos would like to emphasize for this story is: “If you are a citizen of this country, make sure you use all the rights the Constitution gives you. Especially use your voice and your vote. And if you are a citizen, help others to become citizens, too.”
Sons of Italy… and Now America
Brothers Bruno and Rino Di Santillo are owners of the Momma Roma restaurant off Piney Orchard Parkway in Odenton. Growing up in Italy, they told us, “we always wanted to experience the American Dream.” In fact, the United States to them was “a country where we thought that all dreams would come true.”
That idealistic view, however, did not fully prepare the brothers for what lay ahead. “Little did we know that while we had the passion, it would take such hard work, perseverance, and commitment,” Bruno told us. “We soon realized that this was the way to succeed in America. We were willing to give it our best, and part of this process was to become an American citizen.”
As the Di Santillos assimilated to life in the United States, they said, “we learned to appreciate where we came from and where we were going…Our business has presented many challenges along the way. It has been difficult at times as we adjusted to American culture.”
Was it worth the effort? “We are following our dream and determined to make each day successful. We have learned so much. We love serving those in our community and realize that we would not be where we are today without their support. We are privileged to be in the position we are today. Our passion has been kept alive through the diligence of hard work and the wonderful community that supports Mamma Roma.”
Rino and Bruno Di Santillo
Oksana: A Model Citizen
Anyone who’s patronized local farmers’ markets likely know Oksana. Or at least they know the quality of her goods, featuring fresh organically grown produce and canned pickled and fermented vegetables from her own recipes.
On one occasion last year, a team from Voice of America filmed part of a documentary on Oksana, capturing her in action and interviewing some of her customers. It’s now available online, in Russian. What many patrons don’t know is that her full name is Oksana Bocharova, a naturalized U.S. citizen since 2010 and a native of the Belgorod region of eastern Russia, 40 kilometers north of the Ukraine border on the Seversky Donets River.
Attributing her love of farming to her father Yuriy, she set out to be a farmer herself at age seven, earned a Master’s degree in agronomy in 1992. She then worked on a 5,000-acre collective farm, leasing 200 acres to produce vegetables, sugar beets, and hay as well as raising pigs for markets nearby and in Moscow.
Oksana graduated from AgroBusiness in 1997 and two years later came to the United States through the University of Wisconsin’s Dairy Farm Training Program. From there, she moved to Maryland to work on a certified organic farm in Anne Arundel County and ultimately bought and cultivated her own farm on the Eastern Shore, concentrating on growing produce for markets and Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) subscribers.
For this story, Oksana answered questions by phone as she was driving to her farm near Chestertown. Knowing that her pursuit of U.S. citizenship was a mostly solitary effort on her part, we wondered how the naturalization process works with split families, citizen and non-citizen. “The process could take years if filing jointly and for the person who doesn’t have citizenship, to gain it,” she noted.
What was the driving force behind Oksana’s pursuit? “As soon as we decided that we would like to stay in this country, it was important to live here legally, to express your vote. My relatives in Russia are happy that I live in this country.”
We next asked what the naturalization process involved for her. After stressing that applying for citizenship is different in every case, she said that after a year on a trainee visa to study agricultural business in this country, she came back for a second year on the same visa. But that didn’t allow for her children to accompany her here. “So the children stayed home with my parents for two years, while my ex-husband and I participated in an international dairy business trainee program, since we were post-graduated from agricultural colleges.”
As Oksana determined that “things in Russia were not getting better,” she decided to stay in the United States. Because the couple “wanted to be legal,” she said, “we talked to an attorney to see how we could pursue it.” And that pursuit was not easy. “Our path was through our employer to get a work visa,” she recalled, and that process took “a year or two,” at which time “as soon as we got it, we were able to bring our children here.”
The next step was to apply for a green card, Oksana remembers. “It sounds really simple,” she said, “but I got the visa first, then I had to do it for all my family members, which meant a lot of money in attorney fees.” The next step was to apply for citizenship, and she remembers that “the entire process cost us about $20,000. That was our journey.” The most difficult part of the process, she warns, is that nothing is guaranteed. “It was really risky,” Oksana remembered. “I learned that you should not do it yourself. Hire a professional attorney with a good reputation. Do your part, too…Follow the instructions, and just wait. It was not easy for me.”
Oksana Bocharova, Photo by Celia Pearson
Postscript
In June 2020, the Congressional Quarterly Roll Call posted a report that “two immigrants whose U.S. citizenship ceremony was delayed by the coronavirus pandemic have sued the federal government, hoping to expedite the naturalization process they need to complete to vote in this fall’s [November] presidential election.”
The class-action lawsuit was filed on behalf of two permanent residents whose naturalization applications were approved by the Philadelphia field office of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. But their oath ceremonies, along with thousands of others, were postponed after the USCIS shut down its offices in mid-March to help mitigate the spread of the coronavirus.
Attorneys in their lawsuit wrote that it would take several months, at best, before the Philadelphia field office could administer the oath of U.S. allegiance. “Meanwhile, Plaintiffs and putative class members would continue to be denied the rights and privileges conferred by U.S. citizenship,” they said.
The plaintiffs have asked that their naturalization process be expedited so they can be sworn in as Americans by late September, ensuring they can register in time to vote in the fall.
“There has been so much negative fallout from the pandemic, including delaying the rights of citizenship to hundreds of lawful permanent residents in the Philadelphia area, every one of whom has already had their application approved, but now have been unable to complete the oath—the last step of the citizenship process,” said Matt Adams, legal director for Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, which filed the lawsuit along with the National Immigration Litigation Alliance and others.
The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the USCIS, did not immediately respond to a request Friday for comment on the lawsuit.
The naturalization oath ceremony is the final legally required step before someone transitions from permanent resident to American citizen. The USCIS resumed conducting naturalization ceremonies on June 4, and the agency said it has naturalized nearly 2,000 individuals to date.
But that falls short of the 60,000 people the agency naturalized every month before the pandemic, according to government data.
For weeks, the USCIS has dismissed the idea of holding virtual naturalization ceremonies despite pleas from advocacy groups and congressional lawmakers.
“Naturalization ceremonies are required to be public, and under the Title 8 of the Code of Federal Regulations, the applicant must ‘appear in person’ to take the Oath of Allegiance,” USCIS spokesman Joe Sowers said.
However, some field offices, including the one in Santa Ana, California, will soon conduct drive-thru ceremonies for thousands of people there.
The National Partnership of New Americans, a coalition of state, federal, and local organizations that help naturalized citizens register to vote, estimated that 860,000 people were scheduled to become U.S. citizens this year. But that was prior to pandemic-related shutdowns.
