A special children’s citizenship ceremony was hosted recently by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. This ceremony was held to initiate a week-long commemoration of Flag Day.

About 24 children from 18 different countries were administered the Oath of Allegiance by Alejandro Mayorkas, the Director of USCIS during the Flag Day celebration. During the course of the ceremony the significance of Flag Day was emphasized by USCIS Director. He stated that, “The flag is an important symbol of the principles these young new citizens will carry forward for years to come.”
During the children’s citizenship ceremony, a new children’s art project was also launched. Children aged between 5 and 12 years as of September 11, 2010 from all over the United States are termed eligible to participate in the project and are invited to create an artwork under the theme, “We Are America.” The drawing also needs to be accompanied by a short paragraph depicting the theme and answering the question, “People have come from all over the world to become Americans. Why does that make us great?”

USCIS offices all over the country will showcase the children’s artwork. The participants will be recognized during the commemoration of the National Day of Service and Remembrance on September 11, 2010. USCIS will work on this project in collaboration with public libraries and community-based organizations that assist America’s immigrant communities. Submissions for the project are required to reach the USCIS offices before August 16, 2010.

The weeklong Flag Day celebration was held from June 12 to 18. On June 14, a naturalization ceremony was also included in the celebration at Philadelphia’s Betsy Ross Historical Site where the first “Stars and Stripes” are believed to be sewn. To commemorate Flag Day, USCIS also organized naturalization ceremonies at the Colonial Williamsburg Historical Area in Virginia and the Homestead National Monument of America in Beatrice, Nebraska.

Did Obama break promise to Latinos? – CNN.com.

By Ruben Navarette Jr., Special to CNN

Did Obama break promise to Latinos?

And if so, will it wind up costing Democratic candidates in the November mid-term elections and, for that matter, the president himself when he comes up for re-election in 2012?

The answers are: yes and probably.

Yes, of course, Obama broke his promise to Latinos. And it is probably true that, for doing so, Obama and fellow Democrats will continue to lose Latino suppo

And I’m not the only one saying it.

This week, during an appearance on “John King USA,” Univision anchor Jorge Ramos blamed Obama and congressional Republicans for failing to take action to fix the nation’s broken immigration system. The issue is at the center of Ramos’ new book, “A Country for All: An Immigrant Manifesto.”

Guest host Jessica Yellin showed a video clip of Ramos asking candidate Obama in 2008 if he would commit to reforming the immigration system.

Obama responded, “I cannot guarantee that it’s going to be in the first 100 days. But what I can guarantee is that we will have in the first year an immigration bill that I strongly support and that I’m promoting and that I want to move that forward as quickly as possible.”

That first year came and went, and now we’re 18 months into the Obama administration. There’s no immigration bill in sight. In fact, Sen. Charles Schumer, D-New York, has said that he won’t propose a bill he’s been working on until after the November elections, possibly as late as March 2011.

Yellin asked Ramos what he made of this.

“(Obama) broke his promise,” he said. “It’s that simple, and obviously, he doesn’t have the 60 votes.”

Then, Ramos backed off a bit and, parroting a popular line coming out of the White House, started blaming the GOP.

“Where are the Republicans?” he asked. “Where are the 11 Republicans that voted for immigration reform two years ago? Where is John McCain?”

Indeed. McCain is running for re-election back in Arizona, doing his best impersonation of Wyatt Earp at Tombstone. The Straight Talk Express has become the Pander Mobile. Sure, the Republicans deserve their share of the blame, especially since they’ve tried to oversimplify and demagogue the issue to scare up support.

But let’s not forget which political party controls both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue.

The many Latinos I’ve been hearing from in the past six months haven’t forgotten.

Although he hails from Chicago, Illinois, a city and state with sizable Latino populations, Obama has spent most of his life in a black and white world.

He knew very little about Latinos before he launched his presidential campaign, and he was forced to try to find a way to speak to them. He seized on the strategy of being a kinder and gentler alternative to Republicans on the immigration debate. He condemned ICE agents who “terrorize” immigrants by snatching parents away from their babies in workplace raids and promising to deliver comprehensive immigration reform in his first year in office.

Now, after a year and a half in office, ICE is still conducting immigration raids, and comprehensive immigration reform isn’t on the table.

More and more of the Latinos I hear from feel as if they’ve been snookered. They see the passion that Obama put into an issue he really cared about — health care — and they resent the fact that when it comes to immigration reform, the president seems to think that words speak louder than actions.

What they resent even more is that they feel teased every time Obama makes yet another major speech promising to deliver something he has no intention of delivering — comprehensive immigration reform.

With the delaying and the teasing, it’s not surprising that Obama’s stock with Latino voters is falling. Obama won two-thirds of the Latino vote in 2008. In January, at the end of his first year, his job approval rating with Latinos stood at 69 percent. In February, it fell to 64 percent. And, in May, according to a recent Gallup poll, it slipped to 57 percent.

Some political observers believe that the recently filed lawsuit by the Department of Justice against the Arizona immigration law is part of the administration’s strategy of rebuilding support with Latinos, about 70 percent of whom oppose the measure.

I hope not. For one thing, that strategy wouldn’t work. Latinos aren’t about to give Obama, a former lecturer on constitutional law, much credit for recognizing the obvious: that the Arizona law is blatantly unconstitutional because it usurps federal authority over immigration law in violation of Article 1, Section 8.

The suit could have gone further and argued, as other lawsuits against the measure have, that the process of implementing the law runs the risk of violating the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment by singling out Latinos as the most likely to resemble illegal immigrants.

Such a law is so odious that the idea that the federal government would challenge it is a given.

After all, the Obama administration isn’t suing Arizona to defend Latinos but to defend the Constitution. So that won’t assuage the concerns of Latinos that the White House doesn’t really care about them or issues that matter to them.

The way to do that is to pass comprehensive immigration reform. Until that happens, words without actions are meaningless.

In fact, every time this administration tries to reassure Latino voters that it is in their corner, the effect is the opposite. It reminds Latinos that, as long as Obama is in the White House, they’re on their own.

It has been announced recently by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) that a revised version of Form I-90, Application to Replace Permanent Resident Card has been released on the USCIS website. Dated 08/10/09, the new version incorporates more user-friendly features. Form I-90 can be filed by the applicants either electronically through e-filing or mailed to the USCIS Phoenix Lockbox facility.

In general, Form I-90 is filed by an applicant to request for replacement of permanent resident card. This application cannot be used if the applicant is a conditional resident and his/her status is about to expire. An applicant who attained conditional resident status through marriage to a U.S. citizen or permanent resident is required to file Form I-751.

Until July 28, 2010, the previous versions of Form I-90 will be accepted by USCIS, after which the previous version forms will be rejected. The incorrectly filed applications will be sent back to the applicants directing them to re-file with the revised version of the form.

If the applicant wants to be notified of the application status through an email and/or text message, Form G-1145, E-Notification of Application/Petition Acceptance has to be completed and attached to the first page of his/her application.

The form filing fee structure varies depending on the reason for the request. For instance, in cases where the permanent resident card is lost, stolen, or mutilated, the name or biographic information is changed, expiry date of the card is nearing, or the status has automatically been changed to permanent resident, the applicant will be charged $ 370 (base application fee of $290 + biometric fee of $80).

An applicant filing Form I-90 for the reason that he/she has reached his/her 14th birthday since the issue of the permanent resident card, the base application fee will not be applicable and only $80 will be charged.

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Obama: Immigration reform ‘cannot pass without Republican votes’ – The Oval: Tracking the Obama presidency.

President Obama today called for a “practical, common sense” immigration system that will help the U.S. economy and maintain America’s immigrant tradition — and he put the pressure on Republicans to get it through Congress.

“Reform that brings accountability to our immigration system cannot pass without Republican votes,” Obama said in his first major immigration speech as president . “That is the political and mathematical reality.”

Obama said his administration has already taken record-setting actions to strengthen the border, and he urged Congress to approve “a pathway to legal status” for the 11 million or so illegal immigrants who are already in the United States.

Immigration has become “a source of fresh contention” in recent days because of the new Arizona law that gives police greater authority to question people’s citizenship, Obama said. His administration is expected to file a lawsuit against Arizona, but the president did not discuss potential legal action.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said the first step on the immigration issue should be “to secure the borders,” and that Obama’s pathway to citizenship amounts to “amnesty” for lawbreakers.

“The President can make progress on this issue, but it will take more than a speech,” the top Senate Republican said. “If he would take amnesty off the table and make a real commitment to border and interior security, he will find strong bipartisan support.”

Speaking to lawmakers, academics, and community leaders gathered at American University, Obama touted his plan by stressing the immeasurable contributions that immigrants have made to the United States, and the frequent discrimination they faced throughout history. “Immigrants have always helped to build and defend this country,” Obama said.

The chances for congressional passage don’t appear great. Like McConnell, congressional Republicans and some Democrats said the government should focus on better law enforcement better moving on to citizenship issues or guest worker programs. In the meantime, lawmakers who are already grappling with new Wall Street regulations and an energy bill must also deal with congressional elections only four months from tomorrow.

Obama said political posturing on an emotional issue has delayed congressional action in years and month past. “Into this breach,” he said, “states like Arizona have decided to take matters into their own hands.”

Arizona’s crackdown is understandable but “ill-conceived,” Obama said, arguing that an immigration system requires a national approach rather than a “patchwork” of state laws that puts too much of a burden on local law enforcement.

“These laws also have the potential of violating the rights of innocent American citizens and legal residents,” Obama said, “making them subject to possible stops or questioning because of what they look like or how they sound.”

McConnell, the Senate GOP leader, criticized Obama for his stand on the Arizona law, saying that “attacks on states filling the breach created by the failure of the federal government won’t secure the border, grow jobs or create solutions for what we all agree is a broken immigration system.”

At points in his speech, Obama criticized both sides of the immigration debate.

Some rights groups all but encourage illegal immigration, Obama said, though at least 11 million people are in fact breaking the law by not going through the citizenship process, and they should be held accountable.

As for critics of “amnesty,” Obama said it’s simply impossible to deport 11 million people. Doing so would disrupt communities and break up families, he added, as many undocumented immigrants have children who are U.S. citizens because they were born here.

The president said he has already taken major steps to better protect the border, proclaiming — twice — that “we have more boots on the ground near the southwest border than at any time in our history.”

As for his pathway to citizenship plan, Obama said it will help create “a younger workforce and a faster growing economy than many of our competitors,” Obama said. “And in an increasingly interconnected world, the diversity of our country is a powerful advantage in global competition.”