Wallenberg printed Swedish passports of his own design and with incomparable courage faced Nazi soldiers and death squads. He distributed passports to thousands of victims. He repeatedly risked his own life as he followed the death marches and went daily to the deportation trains where he literally pulled people out of the clutches of the Nazis. He purchased and rented scores of houses in Budapest. equipped them with Swedish flags. and personally protected the refugees from the onslaught of the Nazis and the arrow cross. For the man who saved so many by conferring citizenship upon them. our action here is a singularly appropriate. although symbolic. parallel. To confer U.S. citizenship upon him is to both protect him and to honor him through our belated gratitude. Bestowing honorary American citizenship is a serious matter. Only once before in the history bf our Congress have we given honorary citizenship. As one who earned my own citizenship in this Nation as an immigrant from Hungary. I am well aware of the preciousness which accompanies such an action. However. in taking Raoul Wallenberg to our Nations breast. we bring even more honor to ourselves than to him.
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immigrant deportation refugees