Xavier Becerra: “It is unfortunate that more Members of this body were not able to attend or chose not to attend a recent citizenship…”

“It is unfortunate that more Members of this body were not able to attend or chose not to attend a recent citizenship swearing-in ceremony that was held here in the Capitol. I believe that was the first time in the history of this Nation that we had a citizenship swearing-in ceremony held here in the Capitol of this country. We had over 100 people from over 40 or 50 countries come to this Capitol and take the oath saying that they are committing themselves as U.S. citizens, they are relinquishing their previous citizenship, and they are binding themselves to this country. I must tell the Members that a number of those people probably still cannot communicate extremely well in English but, by God, I must tell you, you look at the faces of each and every one of those people and not a one of them would have said to you that there was a prouder American in this country at that time. To believe that there are people in this country who are saying, 'I wish to legally emigrate and become a lawful permanent resident of this country,' in essence saying, 'I want to permanently reside here,' and believe that these are folks that are saying they do not wish to learn English I think is myopic.”