They came to escape lives of poverty, the collapse of their governments, kidnappings and gang rapes. Their journeys were fraught with danger, heartbreak, frustration, but most of all, determination to provide their families with better lives.They once called themselves refugees, asylum seekers, immigrants. Today, they call themselves Americans.
“They come from completely explosive homeland and they’re here because they want freedom,” said Lauren Crowder, who teaches citizenship classes at the Center for Refugees and Immigrants. “It’s humbling and inspiring.”
Since 2003, at least 13,821 immigrants completed that journey to become United States citizens in the Nashville area, according to data from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Countries such as Egypt, India and Iraq are the most common countries of origin, though a sizable number of immigrants came from Mexico as well.
Overall naturalization, the process by which immigrants become citizens, has declined by about 19 percent since 2008 but still remains double what it was in 2003.
Becoming a citizen is difficult and takes years. In general, candidates first must get their green card, which allows them to be “lawful permanent residents.” Green cards are usually obtained through political asylum, employment, family members or being a refugee from a war-torn country. Then they can apply for citizenship as long as they have been in the United States for at least five years, have knowledge of U.S. history and its government, can speak and write at least basic English and are of good moral character.
Then, the applicant must take the citizenship test, which is comprised of American history, reading and writing. The test is all in English. Crowder said some people take years to become proficient enough in English to take the test.
The test itself isn’t easy.
Quick: Name the original 13 colonies. Who makes federal laws? How many amendments are in the U.S. Constitution? What is one power of the federal government?
The questions are random, from a list of 100, and focus on American civics and history. That’s in addition to English reading and writing tests.
“It’s stuff most Americans don’t know,” Crowder said. “It’s really hard.”
Once that is done, new citizens must renounce loyalty to other countries, promise to defend the Constitution, obey the law, serve in the military if needed and be loyal to the United States.
The road is long, frustrating and expensive. Immigration attorney Linda Rose said it’s easy for an immigrant to spend $10,000 from temporary visa to naturalized citizen because of filing costs, legal fees and other associated expenses.
“I always tell people in immigration, ‘It costs more than you’d expect and it’ll take longer than you think,’ ” Rose said. “It’s a long, rocky, complicated road.”
本报讯 从2003年以来，13,821名来自世界各地的难民，经过多年的努力和奋斗，在纳什维尔宣誓成为美国公民。田纳西州州府纳什维尔市，也日益成为全美国乃至全世界按人口比例接受难民最多的城市之一。
近二十年来，纳什维尔难民主要来自库尔德族，伊朗，索马里，埃塞俄比亚，苏丹和塞尔维亚等，和70-80年代大量的印度支那难民相比，新一批的难民主要是信仰穆斯林人群。他们之所以选择纳什维尔这个有着强大基督教信仰基础的城市，还是由于纳什维尔的包容性。据了解，这些难民们很多人在这里享受Food Stamp（食品券），Section 8（住房补贴）和TennCare（免费医疗），纳什维尔的纳税人，用自己的金钱和包容精神让这些难民可以迅速安置，开始他们的新生活。纳什维尔许多教会和基督徒们，也用他们爱心帮助这些难民学习英文，并尽快适应这里的生活。
和上述难民族群有着广泛联系的纳什维尔市的大纳城保险投资公司的王先生，见证这些难民在纳什维尔的安家置业。他说，绝大部分难民是非常努力的，他们在带着感恩的心，在这块自由的土地上开始他们的全新生活。
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