Citizenship Quotations

The 'anchor baby' thing needs to be fixed... Anchor babies are an unconstitutional declaration of citizenship to those born of non-Americans. It's wrong, and it's immoral.

I have never concealed my dual citizenship. People involved in state business should probably declare their dual citizenship if they have it.

After four centuries of Spanish rule, Puerto Rico was ceded to the United States in 1898. Residents were granted U.S. citizenship in 1917, and the federal government has allowed Puerto Rico to exercise authority over its local affairs in a manner similar to the 50 states.

The social and industrial structure of America is founded upon an enlightened citizenship.

Is it unreasonable to have proof of citizenship when entering another country?

I strongly support not just citizenship classes but also teaching children how the law works and the many ways it affects their lives.

I'm for the DREAM Act. It makes so much sense. Following the implementation of the DREAM Act, we'll have a case study we can point to where we can say that we provided a path to citizenship or legal involvement in the community for these young immigrants, and the sky didn't fall.

I'm interested in people who find themselves in places, either of their choosing or not, and who are forced to decide how best to live there. That feeling of both citizenship and exile, of always being an expatriate - with all the attendant problems and complications and delight.

There's not an American in this country free until every one of us is free.

We are not anti-white. But we don't have time for the white man. The white man is on top already, the white man is the boss already... he has first-class citizenship already. So you are wasting your time talking to the white man. We are working on our own people.

Quite frankly, I think if a man or a woman likes their American job, wherever they were born, they should be able to keep that job. We need a clear path to citizenship for workers who are already here and a fair and efficient on-ramp for those who want to come here.

Conservatives forget that citizenship is more than a thing to withhold from immigrants. Progressives forget it's more than a set of rights.

Suffrage is a common right of citizenship. Women have the right of suffrage. Logically it cannot be escaped.

Ours is an open and accepting society, and has historically provided an avenue for lawful immigration to all those willing to accept the responsibilities of citizenship.

What do I owe to my times, to my country, to my neighbors, to my friends? Such are the questions which a virtuous man ought often to ask himself.

Commerce has changed the ethics of citizenship and the incentives for national service. America now buys private contractors - we used to call them mercenaries - to do the country's fighting.

Have you ever watched someone become American? Last week, at a national citizenship conference I organize, thirty immigrants from 17 countries swore an oath and became citizens of the United States. It was a stirring experience for the hundreds of people in the room.

Citizenship rights is about making all Iranians feel they are part of one nation, one identity, under one umbrella they can feel proud of.

Strengthening our identity is one way of reinforcing people's confidence and sense of citizenship and well-being.

No other country on earth could have provided such tremendous opportunities and we should never take the privilege of our citizenship for granted.

When I first ran for public office, it was with the passion and idealism of a young man who believed that government could help make our lives better, that public service was a calling and that citizenship demanded responsibilities. There was a greater good.

Why should citizenship be a matter of birth? The premise held by those who want to end birthright citizenship is that some people deserve it and some do not - that the status shouldn't be handed out automatically. Frankly, that's a premise worth considering.

I think we should be pushing for amnesty and a path to citizenship for every undocumented person residing in the United States who has not committed a violent crime, with a special emphasis on keeping families together.

I see little difference in the attitudes of those who consider themselves Christian and those who are openly secular and agnostic. Most Christian citizenship appears to be clearly right here - on this little bit of very unreal estate.

People inside of belonging systems are very threatened by those who are not within that group. They are threatened by anyone who has found their citizenship in places they cannot control.

Talk of citizenship today is often thin and tinny. The word has a faintly old-fashioned feel to it when used in everyday conversation. When evoked in national politics, it's usually accompanied by the shrill whine of a descending culture-war mortar.

I love my country. And I would have to renounce my Spanish citizenship to become a U.S. Citizen.

Full participation in government and society has been a basic right of the country symbolizing the full citizenship and equal protection of all.

Well I don't know, I might have lost my citizenship, I don't think you can lose your citizenship though.

Relegating women to second-class citizenship was abolished when Jesus died on the cross.

I left Egypt in 1969 for graduate school at the University of Pennsylvania. I have been on the faculty at Caltech for 37 years and carried dual citizenship for 31. But my commitment to the country of my birth never wavered.

In America, to be ID'd - sorted, tagged, and permanently filed - is to lose a bit of one's soul. To die a little. This sounds like a subtle, poetic notion. It's not. In American legal and cultural tradition, one essential privilege of citizenship is not having to prove it on demand.

What I believe is that marriage is between a man and a woman, but what I also believe is that we have an obligation to make sure that gays and lesbians have the rights of citizenship that afford them visitations to hospitals, that allow them to be, to transfer property between partners, to make certain that they're not discriminated on the job.

I have dual citizenship, it just so happens I live in America.

Of course gender discrimination is a serious problem. It's a particular concern of mine and always has been. I grew up with three sisters, all of whom work outside the home. I married a lawyer who works outside the home. I have a young daughter who I hope will have all of the opportunities available to her without regard to any gender discrimination. There's no suggestion in anything that I've written of any resistance to the basic idea of full citizenship without regard to gender.

Modernity has been largely shaped for Jews by three momentous experiences: the acquisition of citizenship by individual Jews in secular nation-states, the destruction of one-third of Jewry in the Holocaust, and the founding of the State of Israel.

Many of our clients ? both in rural areas and inner cities ? either don't have or don't have access to a birth certificate. And most certainly, very few of our clients have passports to establish their citizenship status, as has been suggested for use as documentation by proponents of this policy.

She's born to an American citizen, she was adopted by an American citizen, and here she is without her citizenship, ... ... She's been in limbo for almost three years now.

The only hope we have here is that his Austrian citizenship gets cancelled.

If 'little George Dubya Bush' wins, we are going to apply for Canadian citizenship.

I can't marry my way into citizenship like straight people can. I can get married in the state of New York where I live, but because of the Defense of Marriage Act, the federal government, which hands out visas, won't recognize my marriage.

For us having a single standard of citizenship for all New Zealanders irrespective of race remains a very important objective indeed.

If Andrew Robb is serious about a compulsory citizenship test on Australian history, customs and values, he should have the courage to require all Australians to take the test.

We support an immigration policy that provides a path to citizenship for all workers here. ... We must recognize workers as full members of American society and permanent residents with full rights and full mobility.

There is a general agreement about the fact that citizenship in this country should not be bestowed on people who are the children of folks who come into this country illegally,

My view is if you've lived here for a significant period of time -- whether you're undocumented or documented -- and you have contributed to your community, you have never been arrested or gone to jail or any of that stuff, and you've paid your taxes and worked hard, that you ought to have a path to earn legalization of citizenship and so forth.

My sister was one of them that was applying for citizenship and she had to go to Houston and eventually she moved to Houston.

It is impossible to speak of citizenship in Europe without posing the question of the current weakening of democracy within each of our countries.

It is a signal to the world that Canada is an open and inclusive society that believes in the notion of full citizenship for all.

Republicans say they want citizenship to truly mean something. Let's be equal-opportunity about it and test everyone, including those very Republicans and others whose forbears came here generations ago.

Renouncing citizenship to avoid taxes has its own consequences.

Our people ask for nothing more than the recognition of citizenship, nothing more than the right to live on the land where their ancestors were born. Nothing more than their identity cards.

We're not asking you to give them a reward for good citizenship, ... Believe their testimony.

When it comes to fighting for citizenship that many people take for granted, there isn't anyone I would not talk to. When it comes to immigration, there isn't any question I will not answer.

We have a job. We have money like everyone else. As soon as possible, we get citizenship.

That was basically the largest single extension of citizenship rights in the country.

There are Poles who maybe say, 'I waited 15 years and did it legally before I got citizenship, so why should these others be able to jump ahead of the line.

I see the sharp inequality between how Haitian and Cuban refugees are treated in Florida. Both groups come here because their lives are equally desperate. But on arrival, the Haitians are incarcerated, and some are immediately repatriated, whereas Cubans get to stay and are eligible for citizenship.

We are not going to round up and deport 12 million people, but we're not going to hand out citizenship cards, either. There will be a process. We will see what the American people are willing to support. But it will not be unconstitutional executive orders like the ones Barack Obama has forced on us.

from the slave ship to the citizenship we faced a lot of bullship

We ask each classroom teacher to pick an outstanding student from the class. But not just for academics, for demonstrating outstanding citizenship and effort.

We were very keen to get a big Kiwi . . . they are like gold as there are so few genuine big guys in the local scene. For Blake to now have citizenship makes him an even bigger asset.

We have been discovering, for example, people who have been living in a legal way in Italy. In some cases they have Italian citizenship through marriage. They were not doing anything strange in Italy, but they were preparing for attacks abroad.

There has to be a path to citizenship for the people who are here now. They're not taking jobs away from Americans; these are jobs Americans don't want.

We will do everything we can to stop this nonsense of dual citizenship.

We said she's being put through the damn thing only because she does not have a U.S. passport. We don't want to go through this nonsense, ... A U.S. passport, you don't believe how powerful it is. U.S. citizenship is valuable ... people look at U.S. citizens with awe and admiration.

I think it is right for Canadians to be asked to show their faces when they're taking the oath. On revocation of citizenship, we do not let people who have criminal records, including convictions for terrorism, become either permanent residents or citizens. I think there is a limit beyond which someone has really cashed in their chips in terms of their allegiance to Canada.

Citizenship is the right to have rights.

There is no path to citizenship for those who work hard, pay taxes and want a chance to obtain the American dream. By establishing a legal, orderly process, we can bring immigrant workers in this country out of the shadows and under our laws, connect those workers with willing employers and allow our overburdened law enforcement and border patrol to focus on protecting Americans from those who might do us harm.

We both want the bill for different reasons. Immigrant advocates want a way for their people to get citizenship and stop dying in the desert. Unions want to grow their membership. We want a stable work force.

Cub Scouts is about patriotism and citizenship, ... This is a great example of that.

Belief in liberal freedom and democracy is always belief in it in a particular place, in a national home with histories that only those who are born in a place or who adopt its citizenship can hope to understand.

Diogenes, when asked from what country he came, replied, "I am a citizen of the world

Cooper Lighting has a history of community goodwill and generous corporate citizenship. We were pleased to participate in this project for such a well- deserved family.

Washington, D.C. is what is broken, not the immigration policies. We have good laws. We have people suffer every day because of government's failure to enforce the law and be respectful to the process we have. We have a pathway to citizenship already in place.

These events are important as they help young people learn about citizenship.

These several sanctions are used to promote better citizenship.

We watched the U.S. citizenship immigration services web site in March. They had six million, two hundred thousand hits, and two million people downloaded applications for citizenship. So what we're doing is attempting to help people in that process.

These are the kinds of companies that want all the benefits of American citizenship and all the benefits from doing business with the federal government, but they don't want to bare the burden of the responsibilities of paying taxes to our government,

We also have a program in place for low income people. A family of four making $26,000 a year can receive medical coverage, irrespective of citizenship or what documents.

On this memorable day, we were honored to witness 50 petitioners, representing 24 different countries, take the oath of United States citizenship at a naturalization ceremony in the courtroom of Judge Gregory Frost. Having the privilege of watching this naturalization ceremony was an experience these fourth-graders and their teachers will never forget.

Both President and Mrs. Bush feel strongly that out of the evil of Sept. 11 has come a great deal of good. As President Bush said, we're a nation awakened to terror but also a nation awakened to service, citizenship and compassion.

During that time I wrote a personal note to a White House staff member as a concerned American expressing my outrage about the attacks on our country. I did not give up my American citizenship to take this job.

A whole community starts on that road to fully realizing its own American citizenship or its rights as full-fledged Americans. In that sense they really are the catalysts for the (Latino) civil rights movement.

Also the highest voter registration we get is at the citizenship ceremony at the federal courthouse.

During the movement, they called them citizenship education programs. People were actually taught the skills of nonviolence.

Even as human rights norms have steadily evolved over the past half-century, the field of citizenship has remained one of the last bastions of untrammeled state sovereignty. As a result, citizenship creates a giant loophole in the international human rights framework.

There should be a pathway to citizenship - not a special pathway and not no pathway.

To celebrate citizenship is one way for society to show that it is something valuable which strengthens the community.

You must understand the environment in Pakistan, ... This has become a moneymaking concern. A lot of people say if you want to go abroad and get a visa for Canada or citizenship and be a millionaire, get yourself raped.

You must understand the environment in Pakistan ... this has become a money-making concern. A lot of people say if you want to go abroad and get a visa for Canada or citizenship and be a millionaire, get yourself raped.

In December 2004, the Osage Nation of Oklahoma won its battle in Congress to determine our own laws and citizenship, ... It was the end of a long road to independence for our tribe, but the beginning of what we feel is most precious: our sovereignty. I am often asked if gaming has taken over the national debate on Indians in America. But gaming is an extension of our sovereignty, not the other way around and we cannot allow others to frame our issues for us. As Indian people, sovereignty comes first.

I'm praying they're going to give him his citizenship.

I fully support legal immigration and a temporary guest worker program, but I cannot endorse a proposal that rewards illegal immigrants with immediate legal status and a clear path to citizenship and voting rights.

Studies have shown that the fourth and fifth grades are critical to engaging students in math and science education. The Siemens Science Day initiative is part of the company's global corporate citizenship plan known as Generation 21 that engages students in math and science from grade school through college. Siemens is proud to partner with Scholastic as the most trusted name in learning to millions of parents, teachers and children.

The agreement requires Hamdi, once he arrives in Saudi Arabia, to renounce any claim he has to U.S. citizenship and to abide by strict travel restrictions,

Not only do our employees work hard every day to make Microsoft a successful business, but they also contribute their time, expertise, and personal resources to many of our citizenship efforts. We wouldn't have achieved so much in this area were it not for their generosity.

The notion that that was my view is totally inconsistent and rebutted by my life. I married a lawyer. I was raised with three sisters who work outside the home. I have a daughter for whom I will insist at every turn that she has equal citizenship rights with her brother.

It's repulsive to claim that terror and extremism will be imported to Germany if we modernize our citizenship laws,

It's been harder and harder for us to move this number up because tests we perform really well on have been taken off the table. Reading and math are really dominating the testing, where it used to be more of an equal balance in the past (with citizenship and science tests). It's kind of taken over the charts.