Immigration Official: Statue Of Liberty Should Only Welcome Those Who Can "Stand On Their Own Two Feet"

Ken Cuccinelli

Ken Cuccinelli, acting director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (and descendant of Irish/Italian immigrants) says the immigrant tradition that has made America great for centuries should be revised to welcome into the U.S. only those who can "stand on their own two feet."

From CNN:

Ken Cuccinelli tweaked the famous poem from Emma Lazarus -- whose words, "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free" are long associated with immigration to the US and the nation's history as a haven -- as part of a case for strict new measures pushed Monday by the Trump administration that could dramatically change the legal immigration system.

"Would you also agree that Emma Lazarus's words etched on the Statue of Liberty, 'Give me your tired, give me your poor,' are also a part of the American ethos?" NPR's Rachel Martin asked Cuccinelli on "Morning Edition" in an interview published Tuesday.

"They certainly are: 'Give me your tired and your poor who can stand on their own two feet and who will not become a public charge,'" he replied. "That plaque was put on the Statue of Liberty at almost the same time as the first public charge was passed -- very interesting timing."

On Monday, the Trump administration announced a regulation that makes it easier to reject green card and visa applications. The new rule means many green card and visa applicants could be turned down if they have low incomes or little education, and have used benefits such as most forms of Medicaid, food stamps, and housing vouchers, because they'd be deemed more likely to need government assistance in the future.

Here's acting USCIS director Ken Cuccinelli saying on NPR this morning that the Statue of Liberty plaque should be changed to read, "give me your tired and your poor who can stand on their own two feet, and who will not become a public charge." pic.twitter.com/q8OoNn3k6r

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 13, 2019

Dallas-Born U.S. Citizen Held In Immigration Detention For Nearly A Month

(Francisco Galicia via Facebook)

An 18-year-old U.S. citizen was detained at a border Patrol checkpoint for almost a month, reports Buzzfeed News.

Francisco Galicia was stopped while driving to a soccer recruiting event from his home in the border town of Edinburg on June 27. Even though he had his Texas ID and his birth certificate, he was held in custody for 26 days.

"The officers were just telling him they didn't believe he was a US citizen, he was Mexican and should go back to Mexico," attorney Claudia Galan told BuzzFeed News. "He said that it was inhumane, the worst experience ever. He doesn't wish that to anybody."

While held in immigration detention, Francisco slept on the floor of a cell crowded with 60 men. He was denied access to a phone to call his mother or lawyer. During that time, he lost 20 pounds from a lack of food.

Francisco told the Dallas Morning News he was also unable to shower for 23 days while in custody.

The conditions were so terrible, Francisco considered signing the paperwork that would deport him to Mexico just to get out.

The high school student was born in Dallas in December 2000, according to his birth certificate.

While in custody, officers ran Francisco's name and discovered an old travel visa.

The visa had been applied for by his mother when he was a child. Because she didn't enter the country legally, she had used a different name on his birth certificate and didn't believe she could get him a US passport.

Because of the "conflicting reports," ICE and CBP say they had taken appropriate steps.

"Situations including conflicting reports from the individual and multiple birth certificates can, and should, take more time to verify," the agencies said. "While we continue to research the facts of the situation, the individual has been released from ICE custody."

Note - "Take more time to verify?" He was in custody for 26 days and had an American birth certificate.

You can almost understand taking a few hours. MAYBE a day?

But he's in the system as an American who was born in Dallas.

Look out, folks. Don't think it can't happen to you.

In January, a US-born Marine veteran who served in Afghanistan had his US passport, had a REAL ID driver’s license, had his military ID card, and his US Marine Corps dog tags with him when he was arrested in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He was held for three days before he was released.

Obama Takes Veiled Swipe At Trump Immigration Policy On 'World Refugee Day'

President Barack Obama

In observing World Refugee Day, former President Obama took a not-so-veiled swipe at Donald Trump's hideous policy of separating families at the southern U.S. border.

From Obama's Facebook page:

Today is World Refugee Day.

If you've been fortunate enough to have been born in America, imagine for a moment if circumstance had placed you somewhere else. Imagine if you'd been born in a country where you grew up fearing for your life, and eventually the lives of your children. A place where you finally found yourself so desperate to flee persecution, violence, and suffering that you'd be willing to travel thousands of miles under cover of darkness, enduring dangerous conditions, propelled forward by that very human impulse to create for our kids a better life.

That's the reality for so many of the families whose plights we see and heart-rending cries we hear. And to watch those families broken apart in real time puts to us a very simple question: are we a nation that accepts the cruelty of ripping children from their parents’ arms, or are we a nation that values families, and works to keep them together? Do we look away, or do we choose to see something of ourselves and our children?

Our ability to imagine ourselves in the shoes of others, to say “there but for the grace of God go I,” is part of what makes us human. And to find a way to welcome the refugee and the immigrant – to be big enough and wise enough to uphold our laws and honor our values at the same time – is part of what makes us American. After all, almost all of us were strangers once, too. Whether our families crossed the Atlantic, the Pacific, or the Rio Grande, we’re only here because this country welcomed them in, and taught them that to be an American is about something more than what we look like, how our last names sound, or the way we worship. To be an American is to have a shared commitment to an ideal – that all of us are created equal, and all of us deserve the chance to become something better.

That’s the legacy our parents and grandparents and generations before created for us, and it’s something we have to protect for the generations to come. But we have to do more than say “this isn’t who we are.” We have to prove it – through our policies, our laws, our actions, and our votes.

Trump Demands $18 Billion For Mexico Wall In Exchange For Saving DACA Recipients

After a bipartisan panel of five U.S. Senators have spent months hashing out an immigration deal that would tighter national security while also giving DACA recipients protection from deportation, Donald Trump has upended the game board issuing a list of demands including $18 billion to begin building a wall on the U.S./Mexican border before he will grant young immigrants protection.

From The New York Times:

The request, which totals $33 billion over a period of 10 years for border security measures including the wall, could jeopardize bipartisan talks aimed at getting an immigration deal. Among the items on Mr. Trump’s immigration wish-list: money to hire 10,000 additional immigration officers, tougher laws for those seeking asylum, and denial of federal grants to so-called “sanctuary cities.”

The list, delivered to Senator Richard J. Durbin, the Illinois Democrat who has been leading the talks related to young immigrants without documentation, is identical to one Democrats declared a non-starter when the White House issued it in October.

“President Trump has said he may need a good government shutdown to get his wall,” a furious Mr. Durbin said in an emailed statement Friday afternoon. “With this demand, he seems to be heading in that direction.’’

A poll in September (above) shows 62% of all Americans oppose building a wall along the U.S./Mexico border. Only 27% "strongly support" the idea of a wall.

This is why Trump cancelled #DACA - so he could issue an $18 billion ransom note for #Dreamers. It's despicable. https://t.co/s629Sskvaj

— Eric Swalwell (@ericswalwell) January 6, 2018

Trump holds the DACA kids lives hostage. He says no wall, no DACA.https://t.co/iOZnXqfKRQ

— Gamora🔥💖 (@exoticgamora) January 5, 2018

President Obama On DACA Recission: "To Target These Young People Is Wrong"

President Barack Obama issued this statement in response to Donald Trump's decision to rescind the DACA program.

During his presidential campaign, Trump promised to end DACA. But after the election, Obama urged him not to, both in public and private statements.

In his final press conference as president, Obama promised to speak out if Trump targeted Dreamers “who have grown up here and for all practical purposes are American kids and send them someplace else when they love this country.”

Here's what a real president looks like.

Via Facebook:

Immigration can be a controversial topic. We all want safe, secure borders and a dynamic economy, and people of goodwill can have legitimate disagreements about how to fix our immigration system so that everybody plays by the rules.

But that’s not what the action that the White House took today is about. This is about young people who grew up in America – kids who study in our schools, young adults who are starting careers, patriots who pledge allegiance to our flag. These Dreamers are Americans in their hearts, in their minds, in every single way but one: on paper. They were brought to this country by their parents, sometimes even as infants. They may not know a country besides ours. They may not even know a language besides English. They often have no idea they’re undocumented until they apply for a job, or college, or a driver’s license.

Over the years, politicians of both parties have worked together to write legislation that would have told these young people – our young people – that if your parents brought you here as a child, if you’ve been here a certain number of years, and if you’re willing to go to college or serve in our military, then you’ll get a chance to stay and earn your citizenship. And for years while I was President, I asked Congress to send me such a bill.

That bill never came. And because it made no sense to expel talented, driven, patriotic young people from the only country they know solely because of the actions of their parents, my administration acted to lift the shadow of deportation from these young people, so that they could continue to contribute to our communities and our country. We did so based on the well-established legal principle of prosecutorial discretion, deployed by Democratic and Republican presidents alike, because our immigration enforcement agencies have limited resources, and it makes sense to focus those resources on those who come illegally to this country to do us harm. Deportations of criminals went up. Some 800,000 young people stepped forward, met rigorous requirements, and went through background checks. And America grew stronger as a result.

But today, that shadow has been cast over some of our best and brightest young people once again. To target these young people is wrong – because they have done nothing wrong. It is self-defeating – because they want to start new businesses, staff our labs, serve in our military, and otherwise contribute to the country we love. And it is cruel. What if our kid’s science teacher, or our friendly neighbor turns out to be a Dreamer? Where are we supposed to send her? To a country she doesn’t know or remember, with a language she may not even speak?

Let’s be clear: the action taken today isn’t required legally. It’s a political decision, and a moral question. Whatever concerns or complaints Americans may have about immigration in general, we shouldn’t threaten the future of this group of young people who are here through no fault of their own, who pose no threat, who are not taking away anything from the rest of us. They are that pitcher on our kid’s softball team, that first responder who helps out his community after a disaster, that cadet in ROTC who wants nothing more than to wear the uniform of the country that gave him a chance. Kicking them out won’t lower the unemployment rate, or lighten anyone’s taxes, or raise anybody’s wages.

It is precisely because this action is contrary to our spirit, and to common sense, that business leaders, faith leaders, economists, and Americans of all political stripes called on the administration not to do what it did today. And now that the White House has shifted its responsibility for these young people to Congress, it’s up to Members of Congress to protect these young people and our future. I’m heartened by those who’ve suggested that they should. And I join my voice with the majority of Americans who hope they step up and do it with a sense of moral urgency that matches the urgency these young people feel.

Ultimately, this is about basic decency. This is about whether we are a people who kick hopeful young strivers out of America, or whether we treat them the way we’d want our own kids to be treated. It’s about who we are as a people – and who we want to be.

What makes us American is not a question of what we look like, or where our names come from, or the way we pray. What makes us American is our fidelity to a set of ideals – that all of us are created equal; that all of us deserve the chance to make of our lives what we will; that all of us share an obligation to stand up, speak out, and secure our most cherished values for the next generation. That’s how America has traveled this far. That’s how, if we keep at it, we will ultimately reach that more perfect union.

Paul Ryan "Hopes" Congress Can Help Those "Who Have Done Nothing Wrong"

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan has issued a statement regarding Donald Trump's rescission of DACA.

Via press release:

However well-intentioned, President Obama’s DACA program was a clear abuse of executive authority, an attempt to create law out of thin air. Just as the courts have already struck down similar Obama policy, this was never a viable long-term solution to this challenge.

Congress writes laws, not the president, and ending this program fulfills a promise that President Trump made to restore the proper role of the executive and legislative branches.

But now there is more to do, and the president has called on Congress to act. The president’s announcement does not revoke permits immediately, and it is important that those affected have clarity on how this interim period will be carried out.

At the heart of this issue are young people who came to this country through no fault of their own, and for many of them it’s the only country they know. Their status is one of many immigration issues, such as border security and interior enforcement, which Congress has failed to adequately address over the years.

It is my hope that the House and Senate, with the president’s leadership, will be able to find consensus on a permanent legislative solution that includes ensuring that those who have done nothing wrong can still contribute as a valued part of this great country.

Don't hold your breath, folks. Republicans have blocked such reforms for over a decade.

Trump Administration To Add 15,000 Work Visas For Workers Outside The U.S.

Just in time for Donald Trump's "Made In America" week, the Trump administration has announced an increase of 15,000 work visas for workers from outside the U.S.

From the Chicago Tribune:

The Department of Homeland Security on Monday announced a one-time increase of 15,000 additional visas for low-wage, seasonal workers for the remainder of this fiscal year, a seeming about-face from President Trump's "Hire American" rhetoric, following heavy lobbying from the fisheries, hospitality and other industries that rely on temporary foreign workers.

The increase represents a 45 percent bump from the number of H-2B visas normally issued for the second half of the fiscal year, said senior Homeland Security officials in a call with reporters Monday.

The visas are for workers taking seasonal jobs in the seafood, tourism and other industries -- but not farm laborers.

Trumpers - you got played. President Babyhands promised you all jobs and now he's allowing 15,000 more immigrants to come into the country for jobs.

And on top of that, Trump's "Made In America" week also gets the "Irony Award" since the vast majority of Trump products are made outside the U.S.A. Watch the report below.

Not made in America: President Trump kicked off the week touting products made in the U.S., but do his businesses reflect his message? pic.twitter.com/F22Yn1VoKP

— NBC News (@NBCNews) July 17, 2017

Trump Signals Willingness To Compromise On Immigration

Just hours before President Trump is set to address a joint session of Congress, President Trump told TV news anchors that he could be open to compromise on immigration legislation regarding non-criminal undocumented immigrants.

“The time is right for an immigration bill as long as there is compromise on both sides,” the president told the TV anchors at the White House, according to the New York Times.

A compromise that would allow non-violent undocumented immigrants a legal method to stay in the U.S. would be a major shift from Trump's campaign rhetoric.

This comes a day before Trump's new executive order on immigration regarding travel from seven Muslim-majority countries is expected.

Trump signals a drastic shift, saying he's open to plan to grant legal status to millions of undocumented immigrants https://t.co/chBF6GTdkj

— The New York Times (@nytimes) February 28, 2017

Muhammad Ali's Son Detained By Florida Immigration

Muhammad Ali Jr., born in Philadelphia and son of one of the most famous men in the world, was detained for two hours at an airport in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

From the Courier-Journal:

The son of legendary boxer Muhammad Ali was detained for hours by immigration officials at a Florida airport, a family friend told the Courier-Journal.

Muhammad Ali Jr., 44, and his mother Khalilah Camacho-Ali, the second wife of Muhammad Ali, were arriving at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on Feb. 7 after returning from speaking at a Black History Month event in Montego Bay, Jamaica. They were pulled aside while going through customs because of their Arabic-sounding names, according to family friend and lawyer Chris Mancini.

Immigration officials let Camacho-Ali go after she showed them a photo of herself with her ex-husband, but her son did not have such a photo. Mancini said officials held and questioned Ali Jr. for nearly two hours, repeatedly asking him, "Where did you get your name from?" and "Are you Muslim?"

When Ali Jr. responded that yes, he is a Muslim, the officers kept questioning him about his religion and where he was born. Ali Jr. was born in Philadelphia in 1972 and holds a U.S. passport.

President Trump Hints He May Unveil New Executive Order On Immigration

Earlier today, President Trump hinted that his administration may come up with a new executive order to replace/address issues with his immigration policy which has been put on hold by two federal courts.

"We'll be doing something very rapidly having to do with additional security for our country," Trump said during a joint press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. "You’ll be seeing that some time next week.”

You can watch Trump's comments at The Hill. The video was auto=play, and nobody likes that ;)

The Super Bowl Commercial FOX TV Didn't Want You To See

This is truly the Super Bowl commercial FOX TV didn't want you to see.

While the first half of this spot by 84 Lumber, debuted during the Super Bowl last night, viewers were urged to see the second half online. Titled, "The Entire Journey," the commercial chronicles a mother and daughter’s symbolic migrant journey towards becoming legal American citizens.

FOX TV apparently told 84 Lumber the image of an actual wall was too controversial for their viewers.

I really encourage you to watch the full 5 minute video. The tag line at the end hits it.

If this doesn't affect you, it probably says something about your perspective on the world.

9th Circuit Court Of Appeals Denies Trump Stay On Immigration Ruling

(image via Instagram)

Does this mean the 9th Circuit  is now a "so-called" appeals court?

Instead of staying U.S. Federal Judge Robart's temporary restraining order on Trump's immigration EO, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals requested arguments from both sides by Monday to fully consider the motion.

From the New York Times:

A federal appeals court early Sunday rejected a request by the Justice Department to immediately restore President Trump’s targeted travel ban, deepening a legal showdown over his authority to tighten the nation’s borders in the name of protecting Americans from terrorism.

In the legal back and forth over the travel ban, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco said a reply from the Trump administration was now due on Monday.

The ruling meant that refugees and travelers from seven predominantly Muslim nations — Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen — who were barred by an executive order signed by the president on Jan. 27 would, for now, continue to be able to enter the country.

President Bannon Trump won't be pleased.

White House: No Apology For Detaining 5 Year Old Due To Immigration Order

Earlier today, White House press secretary defended the detaining of a 5 year old Iranian boy over the weekend due to President Trump's immigration order by saying, "To assume that just because of someone’s age or gender or whatever that they don’t pose a threat would be misguided and wrong.”

Via RawStory:

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said on Monday that the Trump administration would not apologize for detaining a 5-year-old Iranian boy because it was done to keep the country safe.

Video published by WJLA over the weekend showed the 5-year-old boy being reunited with his mother after he was detained at Washington Dulles International Airport for hours on Saturday.

“The president recognizes that it is his duty and obligation to keep this country safe,” Spicer explained. “And by instituting a process by which we look at these countries over a 90-day period and the process by which the people can come in out of this country to ensure the safety of each and every one of us, I think, is something that makes a heck of a lot of sense.”

“When you look at the 329,000 people [who traveled to the U.S. over the weekend], 109 were inconvenienced for the safety and security of us all,” the Trump spokesman said. “And to make sure that, if they are a 5 year old, that maybe they’re with their parents and they don’t pose a threat.”

“But to assume that just because of someone’s age or gender or whatever that they don’t pose a threat would be misguided and wrong.”

Watch below:

President Obama: 'Fundamentally Disagrees' With Trump Immigration Order

President Obama has issued a statement regarding President Trump's controversial immigration executive order:

President Obama is heartened by the level of engagement taking place in communities around the country. In his final official speech as President, he spoke about the important role of citizen and how all Americans have a responsibility to be the guardians of our democracy -- not just during an election but every day.

Citizens exercising their Constitutional right to assemble, organize and have their voices heard by their elected officials is exactly what we expect to see when American values are at stake.

With regard to comparisons to President Obama's foreign policy decisions, as we've heard before, the President fundamentally disagrees with the notion of discriminating against individuals because of their faith or religion.

While normally former presidents don't chime in on a new president's actions, in that the Trump administration has brought up Obama's name as "having done the same thing" regarding immigration bans in the past, I think it's fair game for Obama to issue a statement.

In the past 24 hours, Trump representatives have begun pointing to a ban of Iraq immigrants during Obama's time in the White House.

From CNN:

Trump's order temporarily banned immigration from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Yemen and Somalia and indefinitely stopped Syrian refugees from coming to the United States.

Though the current White House has compared Trump's action to what Obama did in 2011 when "he banned visas for refugees from Iraq for six months," Obama's move was much narrower in scope. It was crafted in response to two Iraqi refugees implicated in a bomb making scheme and while it did not outright ban refugees from coming to the United States, it did increase the amount of vetting each Iraqi refugee received.

It's a curious tactic, in my view, for Trump to campaign on a strong message of criticizing everything the Obama administration did, and then once in office and use an excuse of "Obama did it."

#Weak

JUST IN: Former Pres. Obama says he "fundamentally disagrees" with Trump's immigration order https://t.co/42MTG3Wldy https://t.co/UCjaTrE5lB

— CNN (@CNN) January 30, 2017

President Trump's Immigration Policy Could Cause Whiplash

President Donald Trump

Today there are massive protests continuing across the U.S., including in front of the White House, against the president’s executive order regarding immigration which:

• suspends the entry of all refugees to the United States for 120 days

• halts the admission of refugees from Syria indefinitely

• bars entry for three months to residents from Muslim-majority countries of Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen

It's understandable that folks have been confused about the reach of President Trump's immigration plan.

Not only does it affect refugees and residents from the countries listed above, it's been back and forth whether the decree includes those "green card" holders who are legal permanent residents of the United States.

Apparently, the policy was hammered out by the White House policy team, avoiding the usual interagency process that would normally assist in providing operational guidance.

On Friday, Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly and Department of Homeland Security leadership saw the final details just before the order was finalized, government officials said. Officials at DHS determined that the executive order's restrictions did not apply to green card holders.

On Saturday night, the Department of Homeland Security reversed, saying that the president’s order did apply to green card holders who were traveling to the United States from the seven countries affected.

Later, White House officials announced that green card holders from the seven countries would need a case-by-case waiver to return.

White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus told NBC News' Meet The Press: “As far as green card holders, moving forward, it doesn’t affect them.” He later added: "If you're traveling back and forth you're going to be subjected to further screening."

Saturday afternoon in the Oval Office, when asked about the rollout, Trump said all governmental agencies were "totally prepared."

"It's working out very nicely," Trump told reporters. "You see it at the airports. You see it all over. It's working out very nicely and we're going to have a very, very strict ban, and we're going to have extreme vetting, which we should have had in this country for many years."

(source)

Legal US Residents Included In Trump Immigration Executive Order

Reuters has confirmed with the Trump administration that current green card holders (legal permanent U.S. residents) will be affected by President Trump's newly signed executive order banning folks from seven Muslim-majority countries in the Middle East and Africa:

People holding so-called green cards, making them legal permanent U.S. residents, are included in President Donald Trump’s executive action temporarily barring people from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States, a Department of Homeland security spokeswoman said on Saturday.

“It will bar green card holders,” Gillian Christensen, acting Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman, said in an email.

UPDATE: Green card holders from seven countries in Trump's ban have to be cleared in to U.S. on case-by-case basis - administration official

— Reuters Top News (@Reuters) January 28, 2017

Donald Trump Calls For "Total And Complete Shutdown Of Muslims Entering The U.S."

Donald Trump's campaign issued a statement today calling for complete halt to all Muslims attempting to enter the U.S.

Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on. According to Pew Research, among others, there is great hatred towards Americans by large segments of the Muslim population.

Most recently, a poll from the Center for Security Policy released data showing “25% of those polled agreed that violence against Americans here in the United States is justified as a part of the global jihad” and 51% of those polled, “agreed that Muslims in America should have the choice of being governed according to Shariah.” Shariah authorizes such atrocities as murder against non-believers who won’t convert, beheadings and more unthinkable acts that pose great harm to Americans, especially women.

Mr. Trump stated, “Without looking at the various polling data, it is obvious to anybody the hatred is beyond comprehension. Where this hatred comes from and why we will have to determine. Until we are able to determine and understand this problem and the dangerous threat it poses, our country cannot be the victims of horrendous attacks by people that believe only in Jihad, and have no sense of reason or respect for human life. If I win the election for President, we are going to Make America Great Again.” – Donald J. Trump

Just so we're clear: a ban on Muslim immigrants proposed by the frontrunner of the party that claims to stand for religious freedom?

You can't make this stuff up, kids.

UPDATE: Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton called the proposed policy from Trump "reprehensible."

This is reprehensible, prejudiced and divisive. @RealDonaldTrump, you don't get it. This makes us less safe. -H https://t.co/SjAqL0clHd

— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) December 7, 2015

American Family Association: All Immigrants Should Be Forced To Become Christians

In spite of the fact that we have a US Constitution that all Americans have freedom of religion, Bryan Fischer (anti-gay hate group American Family Association) says that US immigration policy should be based upon the Bible, which means that all immigrants should be required to convert to Christianity.

(via Right Wing Watch)

Your neighbor

via Blue Nation Review

For realz....

Can you pass a US citizenship test?

In a video posted earlier this week, members of the Immigrant Archive Project — an oral history project that collects the stories of American immigrants — did a series of "man-on-the-street" interviews with passersby in Miami.

They asked questions from the US citizenship test that every immigrant is required to take in order to naturalize. All of those questioned were natural born and raised Americans.

The results?  Well, take a look below.

For some context, as of December 2013, 91 percent of immigrants who took the full citizenship test passed it by getting six of ten questions correct. Immigrants are given a list of 100 possible questions and answers to study beforehand, and the ten questions are selected at random. 

Immigration is a hot topic in politics today.  Some in our country feel immigrants should have to work harder to earn a place in the USA.  But could those same folks answer simple 6th grade questions about our country and it's history?

(via Vox)