The American Legion Dispatch, Vol. 18, No. 11 did a cover story, by Steve Brooks, on Horace Orr Post 29 in Marietta, GA, efforts to raise awareness and help out with the local naturalization process for legal imigrants.
Since its inception, The American Legion has been a leader in mentoring candidates for U.S. citizenship. That proud history is one of the reasons Horace Orr Post 29 in Marietta, GA, recently met with officials from the office of U.S. Citizenship and Imigration Services (USCIS) in an effort to involve Legionnaires in the local naturalization process.
For outgoing Post Commander Amador Rodriguez, Jr. getting involved in the naruralization process is personal. "We all know that immigration is a hot issue," said Rodriguez, a Navy retiree. "There are five to six people I know right now who are not citizens of this country, but who are serving this country in the military. They have their green cards, but they are not citizens of the United States. My thing is, when they get out of the military, what happens to them? Do they go back (to their native country)? Do they stay? WHat I am hoping is that what we're doing here is going to help people like them become citizens."
Carlos Munoz-Acevedo, program manager for the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, attended the meeting with Joe Kernan, USCIS's District 8 community relations officer.
"We think traditional civic organizations like the Legion are great to lead these efforts," Munoz-Acevedo said. "They have a great number of volunteers. They believe in Patriotic ideals. The Legion is one of those, and they were the first to express strong interest in doing this."
Rodriguez said he was contacted by Department of Georgia Adjutant Charlie Knox about the USCIS's pilot program, and Rodriguez then reached out to Munoz-Acevedo. "I said, I think we can handle it," Rodriguez said. "We talked back and forth, and that really kept things rolling."
Munoz-Acevedo said Atlanta, just south of Marietta, is a key target in promoting naturalization. "The southeast United States has seen an increase in its immigrant population in the past few years," he said. Atlanta is a new gateway city, and Georgia is a new gateway state. This area has seen a tremendous growth in its legal immigrant population.
"Many communities don't have the infrastructure to help legal immigrants learn about our country. That is the opportunity."
Munoz-Acevedo and Kernan explained the naturalization process with about a dozen Legionnaires who attended the meeting. Each step in the journey toward U.S. citizenship was explained. A list of questioins that appear on the citizenship exam was also provided.
The pair also presented the group with possible projects in the immigration process, including:
(1) Co-sponsoring citizenship information workshops
(2) Co-hosting citizenship fairs and drives
(3) Hosting immigration orientation sessions
(4) Conducting citizenship study groups.
"These are things you can do pretty easily," Munoz-Acevedo said. "You may want to discuss what you want to do initially and then decide to do some later."
Rodriguez said it's critical to make the Atlanta area aware of what Post 29 is doing. "We've got to put it out there. " he said. "We'veve got to get it out to the local newspapers, TV, radio, because we have a lot of people here. We have Hispanics, Koreans, Vietnamese, a lot of people from all different countries. A lot of them have their own radio stations, their own churches. It's word of mouth."
Munoz-Acevedo urged those in attendance to follow up on what was dsicussed. "It doesn't end today," he said. "We will be working with you enough for you to startt small - maybe have a program (in place) in a couple of months, see how that works out and learn from that."
Rodriguez is optomistic. "I think we have a good group here, and I think we can get something in place," he said. "This is important."
