President. I would like to thank the leadership of the Senate Judiciary Committee for its expeditious consideration of this resolution. Senators SIMPSON and KENNEDY. chairman and ranking minority member of the Immigration Subcommittee. cosponsored this legislation and were instrumental in its swift passage. Mr. President. immigration regulations state that residents must be naturalized at the place where they file their papers. and where they have resided for the required period of time. Under these rules. the naturalization ceremonies surrounding Liberty Weekend would have been open only to residents of New York. As the son of immigrant parents who. along with thousands of other new citizens. first entered this country through Ellis Island. I felt that this limited participation was the wrong way to celebrate the rededication of the Statue of Liberty. Only a truly national ceremony can symbolize what the Statue of Liberty continues to mean to all Americansan affirmation of the spirit of freedom and opportunity. This legislation has the support of the Immigration and Naturalization Service. whose regulations were the source of the earlier restrictions. The INS recognizes that becoming a naturalized citizen of the United States is a lifelong dream for the great numbers of people who have emigrated here and settled in every State. Mr. President. this legislation will ensure that representatives of each of the 50 States will have the opportunity to participate in this onceinalifetime ceremony.
Keywords matched
immigrant Immigration naturalized Naturalization immigration naturalization emigrated