Word: citizenship
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...Parker, chairman of Arizonans for Official English, an organization endorsing English as the state's official language. Republican Representative Toby Roth of Wisconsin is so alarmed he has introduced a bill -- the Declaration of Official Language Act -- that would eliminate bilingual ballots and require English-proficiency exams for all citizenship applications. Last March, California Republican Congressman John Doolittle submitted a constitutional amendment that would make English the official language...
...that each newcomer was welcomed by a fledgling society entirely free from fear and bias. In 1798 Congress raised the residency requirement for citizenship from 5 to 14 years, largely to exclude political refugees from Europe who might foment revolution. Later some states imposed taxes on alien ship passengers they feared might become public charges...
...wages, typically a third less than what white workers could earn. Even so, hostility forced them from many jobs as times got tough. Excluded from the mines and farms, many set up shop as laundrymen, a trade that did not exist in their homeland. They were ineligible for citizenship under a 1790 federal law that limited that privilege to whites. In 1882 Chinese workers were barred from entering the U.S. by an act of Congress that was extended indefinitely in 1902 and was not rescinded until...
...time Chinese Forty-Niners joined the California Gold Rush, Asians have tended to see America in terms of the old Cantonese name for San Francisco: Gao Gam Saan (Old Gold Mountain), or a land of economic opportunity above all. Nativist harassment of the newcomers, coupled with openly racist citizenship and immigration laws, encouraged the impulse to get ahead financially without bothering about assimilation into the mainstream society. Politics was something to be avoided. As an old Far Eastern maxim goes, the nail that sticks out gets hammered down...
Citizens of Puerto Rico voted 48% to 46% in favor of remaining a commonwealth of the U.S. instead of pursuing statehood status. As a result, Puerto Ricans will still enjoy nearly all the rights of U.S. citizenship along with special tax breaks. And the island can continue to field its own Olympic teams...