How Times Change For Immigrants

April 23, 2006|George Bodrogi Boynton Beach

Someone said, "The only thing that is constant is change." I couldn't agree more.

Fifty years ago, when I came to America as a legal immigrant, I had to go through several arduous political, health and character screening processes and was granted permission to be a legal alien resident of the United States. I was looking forward to becoming a productive citizen of this great country. I had to wait for five years, staying on the straight and narrow, being employed, paying taxes, if I wanted to enjoy the privilege of driving, mastering the English language, before I would be granted citizenship. Six weeks after setting foot on American soil, I was employed, working hard to increase my vocabulary and taking every opportunity to assimilate into the American way of life.

I took my driver's test in English, I read English publications, went to see American movies, and made a significant effort to become a good American. In 1961, my dream came through. I took the oath of citizenship, passed all prerequisites, demonstrated my ability to speak and read English fluently, was intimately familiar with the Constitution, with the history of this nation and received the greatest gift of all, my citizenship papers.

But as I said before, things have changed in the past 50 years. Today, people can come to this land and stay without legal authorization, can take their driving test and vote in their native language, if they are citizens, and I can't understand how they can become citizens, without speaking and writing English.

I could go on and on, but I think the message is clear. Write, call, e-mail your legislators, tell them, we are fed up and will vote them out of office if they allow this disgrace of allowing illegal residents to dictate to us and allowing them to remain in this country. They say they love America, but are unwilling to even learn the language, and trying to transform this country to the image of their homeland. Let them go back where they came from, apply for entry to the United States as many of us did and wait for their turn. Demonstrate they are worthy to become a U.S. citizen.

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