Welcoming new Americans
Ellen,
Today, across the country, thousands of New Americans will be swearing an oath of loyalty to the United States as the final step in their process of becoming US citizens.
It’s Citizenship day in America.
I must admit that I learned what a privilege and honor it was to be a citizen through those who aren’t: the DREAMers that walked thousands of miles from Florida to Washington to DC to put their stories and the DREAM Act on the map; the hundreds of thousands who had the courage to ‘come out’ as undocumented, march for comprehensive immigration reform, and make the invisible finally be seen; the farmworkers and day laborers who despite suffering abuse at the hands of their employers, teach others about their humanity; the mothers who, as you’re reading this, are on a 100-mile pilgrimage to ask Pope Francis to help them restore the dignity this country’s inhumane immigration laws have stripped from them.
Tweet now and welcome these new, brave citizens to our country.
Governor O’Malley has been a champion for New Americans his entire career. He has always seen, in the eyes of his New American neighbors, the Irish and German great-grandparents that he never got to meet. In fact, he refuses to call immigrants that don’t have legal status anything but New Americans because to him—as to me—they are already Americans. They embody the essence of what it means to be an American, they remind us of what’s best about us. Their energy, commitment to justice, work ethic, and strive is what revitalizes our country with every generation and we wouldn’t be America without them.
So this Citizenship Day, in the midst of an election season that is the most anti-immigrant presidential campaign in history, join Governor O’Malley and I in welcoming not only those New Americans that were lucky enough to become citizens on this day, but also the millions of New Americans who have yet to swear that oath but whose example teaches all of us the value of citizenship and of being an American.
https://secure.martinomalley.com/page/m/3022886a/4c03f572/2ecdcd16/50a43823/4187562853/VEsE/
Thank you,
Gabriela
Gabriela Domenzain
Director of Public Engagement
O'Malley for President