5008907

A Trip of 1000 Miles

My heart is beating faster and faster. The halls are crowded and I can barely breathe. It's

my freshman year of high school and it is a whole new environment. It seems like all eyes are on

me and I do not know if it is positive or negative. Is it “What is she wearing?” or “She looks

amazing.” Never before have I been more anxious about how people perceive me, however, this

is who I am as I tried to assimilate into society and be like them. These cultural norms, seen

day-to-day, were put on me but I eventually broke through them in order to express my true self.

My identity is out there and you can tell just by looking at me.

I am a Palestinian American, both my parents immigrated to the United States from

Palestine in the 1990s. I have always been connected to my Palestinian roots even while living in

the US. My parents being immigrants and working hard to get their citizenship has always been

something to be proud of. I knew I wanted to research something pertaining to history,

government, politics and culture, because different cultures and traditions have always interested

me. Researching the citizenship process would be perfect to learn more about the process my

parents had to go through and so many other people while also getting to learn about different

groups' experiences.

I have always lived in a community that did not reflect me and I barely saw anyone that

was like me. I go to Northgate High school which is predominantly white and has a lot of

privileged students. This added to my anxiety with me being the complete opposite, a Muslim

Palestiain-American.

During this pandemic a lot of issues arose and light was shined on them, most notably

how groups are treated differently based on race, religion, and more. Another topic of interest is

the effect of historical events that obviously influence cultural norms. After 9/11, I am perceived

1
 5008907

differently than I would be even though I was not born yet. Just by being associated with that

region of the world I am labeled. I want to find out how that influences immigration. Combining

all of this leads me to the question: How have cultural norms and historical events influenced

securing U.S. citizenship?

Jose Antonio Vargas, a journalist, once said, “Citizenship to me is more than a piece of

paper. Citizenship is also about character. I am an American. We’re just waiting for our country

to recognize it.” This relates to the millions and millions of immigrants that come into America

every year just trying to survive. Immigrants are the basis of America and always will be. They

can live in this country for years and years and still not be accepted as one of them. Even a

person that's been a citizen for decades will continue to experience this. In an interview with

Abed Fatah, who immigrated from Jordan in 1994, he said, ¨ To this day I still will get racist

comments and especially at my job, it's assumed that I am not smart enough to do

something…especially when people hear that I have an accent,” when asked if he has ever

experienced prejudice towards him because of his background. Even with him being here for

decades he still is looked at as an outsider. This is interesting because would this happen to

someone immigrating from a European country or someone that fits the standards of how to look

in America?

This fits in the social norms’ aspect of the question. Learning how to assimilate into a

new country is terrifying and a hard process, but first immigrants have to actually gain

citizenship. The citizenship process is known to be a long enduring process. Fatah, in the

interview, walked through how he got his citizenship, ¨It wasn't hard, but it was a little long,

about 5 years. I got my student visa. After I finished education I started working at a company

and got my green card and after 5 years I applied for citizenship and got it.¨ It is a different

2
 5008907

process for everyone and this is simplified, but it gives a good idea on the basic steps to getting

it. He got it during the nineties and it has changed significantly over the years for better and for

worse.

In addition to that, a highly debated social aspect of the changes in the citizenship process

are prejudice and bias. Many people argue that people and government systems show bias

towards different groups based on race, color and religion while many others disagree with this

and believe there is no such thing. D’vera Cohn, a writer/editor for the Pew Research Center

wrote an article called “How U.S. immigration laws and rules have changed through history”

where they go through the different legislation that has been passed over the years.

“Discrimination based on immigration or citizenship status occurs when an individual is treated

differently in their employment because of their citizenship or immigration status” (Cohn). This

defines discrimination and proves that there is discrimination and bias especially pertaining to

citizenship. An example of a law that was passed that discriminated against certain groups from

gaining citizenship is the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, where, “Congress

granted legalization to millions of unauthorized immigrants, mainly from Latin America, who

met certain conditions. The law also imposed sanctions on employers who hired unauthorized

immigrants'' (Cohn). Legislation was passed to restrict people from gaining citizenship. This also

focused on a specific group showing prejudice and bias.

Another aspect of this process are historical events and how they have impacted it. In the

article "Citizenship" (2018), Kyra Babakian argues that "Cultural norms have influenced who

gains access to citizenship” and that historical events have made it increasingly more difficult for

certain groups of people to gain citizenship. Babakian starts off providing historical background

on citizenship and how for many years America has “excluded people...of American citizenship

3
 5008907

based on...race, country of origin, religion, and gender” which she illustrates is still happening

especially after events like 9/11 where America, “increased scrutiny of foreigners seeking to

enter and gain membership…” The author provides historical context (Naturalization Act of

1790) and events (9/11) in order to demonstrate how America has always discriminated against

certain groups and continues to make citizenship more difficult for them.

As the years have gone by under different presidents the citizenship process has shifted

quite a bit. A more conservative cabinet will place more restrictive legislation of immigration; a

more liberal cabinet will be more forgiving with that process. In the article “How Trump Made It

That Much Harder to Become a US Citizen'' (2020), Nicole Narea explains how “Trump's

policies created a naturalization backlog” making it so that people that would have been

naturalized were unable to do so especially during the pandemic. Narea illuminates this by

highlighting how people got naturalized before versus now after his policies, “It’s also more

expensive than ever to become a citizen. Fees for online naturalization applications have already

risen considerably in recent years…” Narea uses statistics from previous years and events

(pandemic) to explain how this process has gotten harder over time in order to show us how

Trump's policies have negatively impacted millions of peoples’ changes in gaining citizenship.

Narea created this article to explain the effect of Trump's policies, but it seems like an audience

she brings in a lot are people that are for his policies since she says “Trump is trying to portray

himself as favoring legal immigration” which is a wake up call to some people so she can show

them what he really is trying to do.

The country's position on how open the borders should be and how many immigrants

should be let in also influences the process as said before. This issue has always been one that is

very divided with strong opinions on both ends. In a congressional debate from 1920-21 there

4
 5008907

were many representatives debating the “quota laws” restricting immigration; one side in favor

and one side opposed. The side in favor of restricted immigration argued that a, “influx of

aliens…(that) would dilute…the American way of life” because of difference in religion and

culture while the other side argued that the very thing that makes America is immigration. This

debate shows both opinions of restricting immigration in order to expose people to their

arguments and facts so that they can come to an informed decision about immigration.

The process of gaining U.S. citizenship in general has changed a lot over time. In the

article "Wait Times for Citizenship Have Doubled in the Last Two Years" in the New York Times

written by Jose Silva, an immigrant that has been pursuing citizenship for a long time now, he

states that, ¨The time that aspiring Americans must wait to be naturalized is now almost twice as

long, 10 months, as it was two years ago...delays come as the Trump administration tightens

scrutiny of applications, diverts staff from reviewing them and introduces proposals likely to

make it more difficult.¨ With the new administration at the time the time it takes to gain

citizenship is doubled. With the want of fewer immigrants coming in the process gets longer and

more obstacle heavy. Silva also brings up the fact that “While the number of new naturalized

citizens has fluctuated each year, processing wait times have increased. The average processing

time for N-400 applications for naturalization increased to 11.5 months in FY 2021, up from 9.1

months in FY 2020 and about 10 months in FY 2019.” Every year the process gets progressively

harder because of a lot of different factors like societal norms and events like the covid

pandemic.

Legislation surrounding this topic is always changing and how it will affect American

citizens is a big topic of concern. In “The law that broke US immigration” (2021),Vox, a youtube

channel that regularly posts videos on news and history, explains both sides of the issue on

5
 5008907

immigration and for the argument against it states that we spend billions of dollars on illegal

immigrants when they are using up our resources and jobs. They develop this idea by showing

the opposing view that “Most Americans saw immigrants as a burden on the country because

they take jobs, housing and healthcare" (Vox). This ideology resulted in a lot of legislation being

passed to restrict it. This video also goes through the process of getting a citizenship and how it

changed after the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996

(IIRIRA). People used to immigrate here pre 1990s temporarily mainly for farming. They would

go through the sponsorship process back then and it could be through marriage, family relations

or a job. In an interview with Mohammad Omar who was an immigrant and became a citizen

from Palestine, he stated that he “got sponsored through my job at the company I worked at

''when asked about the process that he went through to get his citizenship. Being unfamiliar with

the process of getting sponsored and why it needs to be done. This is touched on in the video but

in the interview Omar said, “The company changed my student visa status and they

sponsored…you can also get sponsored through family members too so they can make sure you

have financial support.” They have to get sponsored so that they are not a liability and use up

government financial aid. Going back to the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant

Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRIRA) this act restricted immigration by deporting a lot more than

usual. This act made it so that someone can be deported for the smallest crimes like shoplifting.

Even if they committed a crime in the past they can still get deported for it 30 years later. Even

though IIRIRA was supposed to be a deterrent for immigration and decrease it, it had the

opposite effect and actually resulted in double or triple the numbers of undocumented people.

This was the framework for other legislation like the Patriot Act, a law that allowed the FBI to

infringe on people's fourth amendment rights since they could do a search and look into people's

6
 5008907

phone calls, emails, and wiretap without any probable cause. This was supposed to be a tool to

take down major crimes, especially terrorism after 9/11.

A lot of events have been touched on throughout this, but when one looks at major events

that could have an impact of immigration there are very different responses. In the article, “9/11

and the Transformation of U.S. Immigration Law and Policy” Deepa Iyer goes into how

specifically the 9/11 terrorist attack impacted legislation surrounding the citizenship process and

immigration. Iyer states that:

In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, as concerns grew about a possible terrorist presence

in the United States, the federal government—along with many in the public at

large—linked immigration screening and enforcement to the protection of national

security…The responses by the federal government to 9/11 have led to an unprecedented

increase in detentions and deportations and unease and confusion within immigrant

communities…noncitizens who stumble into this controversial designation lose access to

important immigration benefits. (Iyer)

After 9/11 security got tighter. It was way easier a while ago but after all these events it's gotten

harder to obtain citizenship. Iyer also adds that “Subsequent laws in 1996, 2002 and 2006 were

responses to concerns about terrorism and unauthorized immigration. These measures

emphasized border control, prioritized enforcement of laws on hiring immigrants and tightened

admissions eligibility.” More restrictions were put on after terrorist attacks and threats. It scared

America so citizenships got restricted. In this article Iyer is providing the point of view that to

make sure our country is a hundred percent safe or at least as safe as possible it needs to be

closed off from foreigners. This ideology is common against anti-immigration groups. Vice

Versa she talks about the immigrants’ point of view of not wanting to cause any harm and just

7
 5008907

wanting a safe place to allow for a higher proper education. Just because one out of millions

might be a terrorist even though, will these restrictions and legislation that was passed not one

has caused a problem or been caught if they did. She continues to argue that it should not be

restricted because a small usually nonexistent group of people might hurt us.

Historical events have a huge impact on citizenship and have been for the longest time an

example is the 9/11 terrorist attack which led to a lot of legislation being passed. Legislation like

the Patriot Act was passed solely because of 9/11 and targeted Arabs and Muslims. This topic

really matters to me because I am a second generation citizen. My parents went through this and

even with me being an American born citizen I face discrimination and bias because of how I

look. I have always been interested in governmental processes and legislation so this topic really

encompasses everything I am passionate about. It should matter to others because America is a

country of immigrants. We were founded on immigration and that is what makes it amazing.

Everyone should be working to try and eliminate any prejudice or bias even though it is

impossible to completely do that. I learned so much from my interviews and it was my favorite

part of my research. I got to hear these peoples’ stories, and their first hand experiences with the

system. THe articles were a great source of information but with my interviews with Omar and

Fatah I got to see and hear about personal experiences. With all this information I have gained

through researching all sides of this topic I have learned quite a bit about the citizenship process.

Governmental systems and societal prejudices heavily influence the citizenship and immigration

process. I have found that these are big parts of citizenship and are always influencing you for

example, the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRIRA)

which it’s purpose was to limit undocumented citizens and immigration in general. America was

8
 5008907

built on immigration and discriminating against groups from the want of citizenship goes against

what the country was founded on. Our diversity is something we should take pride in.

9
 5008907

Works Cited

Babakian, Kyra. "Citizenship." Immigration and Migration: In Context, edited by Thomas Riggs

and Kathleen J. Edgar, vol. 1, Gale, 2018, pp. 135-140. In Context Series. Gale In

Context: High School,

link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX3662200037/SUIC?u=wal55317&sid=bookmark-SUIC&xid=

3b70b5c9. Accessed 3 Feb. 2022.

Cohn, D. V. (2020, May 30). How U.S. immigration laws and rules have changed through

history. Pew Research Center. Retrieved April 21, 2022, from

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/09/30/how-u-s-immigration-laws-and-rules-

have-changed-through-history/

Congress, U.S. "Debate on Immigration (1920, 1921)." Civil Rights in America, Primary Source

Media, 1999. American Journey. Gale In Context: High School,

link.gale.com/apps/doc/EJ2163000176/SUIC?u=wal55317&sid=bookmark-SUIC&xid=b

6263f44. Accessed 3 Feb. 2022.

Fatah, Abed. Immigrant/Citizen. Personal Interview. 15 March 2021.

Iyer, Deepa. “9/11 And the Transformation of U.S. Immigration Law and Policy.”

Americanbar.org, 2011,

https://www.americanbar.org/groups/crsj/publications/human_rights_magazine_home/hu

man_rights_vol38_2011/human_rights_winter2011/9-11_transformation_of_us_immigrat

ion_law_policy/.

Narea, Nicole. “How Trump Made It That Much Harder to Become a US Citizen.” Vox, Vox, 3

Sept. 2020,

10
 5008907

https://www.vox.com/2020/9/3/21408528/trump-naturalization-backlog-citizenship-votin

g.

Omar, Mohammad. Immigrant/Citizen. Personal Interview. 18 March 2021.

Palomino, G. (2018, December 12). What it means to be a U.S. citizen. Medium. Retrieved April

20, 2022, from

https://medium.com/social-media-as-news-cod/what-it-means-to-be-a-u-s-citizen-d4c90f

6ed772

Silva, Jose. “Wait Times for Citizenship Have Doubled in the Last Two Years.” The New York

Times, The New York Times, 21 Feb. 2019,

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/21/us/immigrant-citizenship-naturalization.html.

Stephens, Aarti D. "United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)." Immigration

and Migration: In Context, edited by Thomas Riggs and Kathleen J. Edgar, vol. 2, Gale,

2018, pp. 815-818. In Context Series. Gale In Context: High School,

link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX3662200159/SUIC?u=wal55317&sid=bookmark-SUIC&xid=

adc051f8. Accessed 15 Mar. 2022.

Vargas, J. A. (2018, October 30). After Pittsburgh, Jose Antonio Vargas asks, 'who is an

American?'. The World from PRX. Retrieved April 21, 2022, from

https://theworld.org/stories/2018-10-30/jose-antonio-vargas-who-american

Voxdotcom, director. The Law That Broke US Immigration. YouTube, YouTube, 9 Aug. 2021,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKHl__BEsD0. Accessed 17 Feb. 2022.

11