by Daniel Cubias
I’ve written before about how several members of my family have been naturalized. My mother studied English and U.S. history simultaneously to earn her citizenship. My cousin got shot at in Iraq and Afghanistan to earn his.
I was born in America, so I’ve never had to endure the financial cost, mental energy, and psychological stress necessary to earn U.S. citizenship. I’ve wondered, however, if every American should have to experience what naturalized citizens go through to gain their place in this nation.
This grueling journey is chronicled in The Naturalized, a documentary by Aaron Lubarsky.
The film interviews such prominent naturalized Americans as writer Isabel Allende, a native of Chile. She captures the angst of the citizenship process by saying, “I will always, deep in my heart, know that I am a foreigner.”
Similarly, a young woman from the Dominican Republic talks about her ambivalence when pledging allegiance to America, because of the implication that she’s turning her back on the D.R.
The documentary covers the naturalization process up close, including a marriage interview that gets a little uncomfortable. We also eavesdrop on British actor Alan Cumming’s citizenship test (he aces it, by the way).
Yes, the specter of illegal immigration comes up. In fact, the film’s emotional highlight is the tale of a man who lived in America for years, got married, had kids, and then was deported. His anguish over what has happened to his family is devastating.
But there is also levity sprinkled among the frustration. I certainly didn’t know that, on their citizenship applications, prospective Americans are asked if they’ve ever been prostitutes or Communists (yes, those are equally undesirable traits). And then there is writer David Rakoff, who answers the application question “Have you ever committed moral turpitude?” by stating, “Yes, hasn’t everybody?”
In essence, the film seeks to explain why anyone would go through the pain and misery of the naturalization process. After all, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, by its very definition, is the only part of the U.S. government that doesn’t answer to citizens. So it’s cumbersome, bureaucratic, and inefficient. The thinking seems to be, “If you don’t like it, go get naturalized someplace else.”
And yet, every year, about one million people become naturalized citizens. And that doesn’t include the millions more who would gladly become engulfed in the process if only there were some pathway to citizenship available to them (but that’s another post).
Perhaps it is the Irish-born police chief of Miami who sums it up best. In the film, he says that naturalized citizens have a point of reference about the shortcomings of other nations, and as a result, they “probably love America more than the native-born Americans do.”
Many of us who were lucky enough to be born in this country kind of suspect as much.
The Naturalized will be part of Ellis Island’s permanent exhibit, starting in 2012. It can also be purchased on DVD through the History Channel.
To learn more about Daniel, visit Hispanic Fanatic.
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Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those
of the author and should not be understood to be shared by Being Latino, Inc.
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