NEW YORK — Hundreds of immigrants across the United States became citizens this week in special ceremonies honoring the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., who would have turned 81 Friday
NEW YORK — Hundreds of immigrants across the United States became citizens this week in special ceremonies honoring the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., who would have turned 81 Friday. Honoring the slain civil rights leader via a naturalization ceremony makes perfect sense to many immigration reform advocates who are also connecting their efforts to the work of King and the civil rights movement, looking for inspiration and a way to gain support in hopes of passing legislation in 2010. It’s not unusual for the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to hold naturalization ceremonies around holidays such as July 4 or at places with ties to immigrant history such as Ellis Island. But the week of events honoring King is a first for the agency. "When we greet new citizens into the United States we speak of the open opportunities that our country presents to everyone around the world who qualifies for the benefits our agency administers," said Alejandro Mayorkas, the USCIS director. "Martin Luther King helped define those hopes and opportunities for everyone." Nigerian immigrant Emakoji Ayikoye who became a citizen Thursday at a ceremony in New York said King "fought for the equality of people." He pointed out that the reform of immigration laws that allowed more people from all over the world to come to America took place as the civil rights movement was going on. "His work paved the way for me to become a citizen," Ayikoye said. "Without him, there is absolutely no way I would become a citizen today." The efforts of King and others in the civil rights movement created a political atmosphere in the 1960s that helped those who were trying to change the country’s immigration laws, said David Canton, associate professor of history at Connecticut College in New London. "The whole ’60s were about democracy and reform," he said. Immigration laws at the time were extremely restrictive and were biased in favor of people from places such as northern Europe. Those who wanted that changed "made people realize that it’s not fair, it’s not democratic," Canton said. The current basic framework, that all countries get the same number of visas, was put into place through the Immigration and Nationality Services Act of 1965. Those advocates who are hoping for reform to come again this year, with changes including a path to citizenship for the nation’s undocumented population, are still looking toward King. Copyright 2010 The Associated Press.
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