residency) answer, orally and in English,rnnine out of 15 questions (such asrn”Which office deals with immigration;rnthe INS, the employment office, the socialrnsecurity office, or the post office?”)rnthere was an even more simplifiedrnmethod of attaining the status of permanentrnresident. According to the Januaryrn29, 1989, issue of the Los AngelesrnHerald Examiner, for those illegal aliensrnwho had not miraculously developed arnburning desire to become citizens, speakrnEnglish, or learn American history, butrnwanted merely to avoid deportation, thernamnesty program created an alternative.rnWith this method, all that amnestyrnapplicants were required to do was tornshow up for at least 40 hours of a 60-rnhour civics course. Upon fulfillment ofrnthis requirement, applicants were awardedrncertificates of attendance that automaticallyrnrendered them eligible for permanentrnresidency.rnFor the most part, “instructors” in thern”learning centers” providing the 60-hourrncourse comprised those quick to jumprnon a gravy boat kept afloat with billionsrnof federal tax dollars. Since the amnestyrnprogram provided for up to 190 hours ofrnfree “tutoring” to each illegal alien, theserninstructors were also quick to encouragerntheir pupils to extend their classroomrntime from the minimum 40 hours to anrnaverage of 150 hours. Because instructorsrnwere paid for each hour a pupilrnspent in the “learning centers,” it doesn’trntake a computer to figure out that transformingrnillegal aliens into legal aliensrnwas a lucrative business. (One Los Angelesrnschool had an enrollment of morernthan 3,000 pupils.) hi fact, in 1989rnCalifornia demanded $50 million in additionrnto the $354.1 million over fivernyears already allotted the state for thisrnprogram. While the last aliens to gornthrough the amnesty program were torncomplete their courses by Novemberrn1990, this might well be the start of arnvicious cycle whereby taxpayers periodicallyrnfund the transformation ofrnillegal immigrants into “permanent residents.”rnAll this is in no way meant to implyrnthat out of the millions of aliens whorntook advantage of the amnesty programrnto become legal, a small percentagernwon’t ultimately apply for (and acquire)rncitizenship after the required five-yearrnwait. The very fact that a modestly intelligentrnten-year-old could pass thernqualifying test makes citizenship ridiculouslyrneasy to attain for anyone with a vocabularyrnof a few hundred English wordsrnand the ability to memorize the answersrnto a few simple questions.rnhi fact, as a result of the ImmigrationrnAct of 1990, it is now possible to becomerna citizen by mail. Before, new citizensrnhad to attend a formal naturalizationrnceremony before a judge, in whichrnthey took an oath of loyalty to the flag.rnConstitution, and laws of the UnitedrnStates. Now, citizenship papers arernmailed to our country’s new “citizens”rnupon request. Or, as in Tucson, Arizona,rnthis past summer, Hispanic immigrantsrnare welcomed to American citizenshiprnin Spanish. Organized byrnTucson’s INS office, which thought conductingrncitizenship ceremonies in a foreignrnlanguage would be a “nice gesture”rnto recent immigrants, the city’s programrndemanded only that the oath of loyaltyrnbe recited in English (as required byrnlaw).rnThere is no longer any difference betweenrnan American “citizen” and a “naturalized”rnvoter. Latino and other ethnicrnorganizations (like the National Associationrnof Latino Elected and AppointedrnOfficials) are feverishly engaged in settingrnup “learning centers” of their own,rnin which “their people” are instructed inrnhow to apply for citizenship—and thusrnattain “political power.” Power overrnwhom is not entirely clear, but the implicationrnis that they wish to lord itrnover citizens of the country that offeredrnthem hospitality and freedom to beginrnwith.rnIn none of the thousands of articles Irnhave read or the endless harangues I havernheard from the leaders of organizationsrnwith names like the Mexican AmericanrnLegal Defense and Education Fundrn(MALDEF), the National Council ofrnLa Raza (“The Race”), and the Leaguernof Latin American Citizens (LULAC)rnhas the word “privilege” been used inrnconnection with the concept of Americanrncitizenship. Nor have I heard anyonernexplain that citizenship consists of morernthan rushing off to the voting booth tornelect the candidate of one’s choice—orrnrather of the aforementioned ethnic organizations’rnchoice. Hermandad MexicanarnNacional, an affiliate of La Razarndeemed eligible by the INS to administerrnAmerican citizenship examinations,rnactually incited Mexicans in Californiarnto break the laws of this country. In thernsummer of 1992, the Hermandad—orrn”Brotherhood” (which reportedly receivedrn$8.3 million in federal grants forrn”educational programs” in 1991-rn1992)—organized a strike of drywallrnworkers, which involved numerous illegalrnaliens and which resulted in violent scufflingsrnwith police officers on more thanrnone occasion.rnTo these organizations, and to all thernapathetic American citizens who continuernto ignore their bid for ethnic dictatorship,rnI offer the words of JamesrnBaldwin: “The making of an Americanrnbegins at that point where he himselfrnrejects all other ties, any other history,rnand himself adopts the vesture of hisrnadopted land.” This should be requiredrnreading for every elected official and forrnevery indiidual responsible for reducingrnthe requirements for citizenship and voterrnregistration to no more than an inconvenientrnformality.rnThe January 19, 1993, issue of the SanrnDiego Union laid out details of a mindbogglingrnplan to send Mexican teachersrninto our countr’s tax-funded publicrnschools to instruct Mexican students inrnthe history and culture of Mexico. Thisrncomes at a time when American teachersrnin California have had to agree to a devastatingrnsalary cut in order to keep theirrnjobs, yet the plan has to date gone unchallenged.rnWhile dedicated American citizensrnare working tirelessly to secure our country’srnborders against the invasion of millionsrnof illegal aliens, our school and civicrnleaders haye been making plans to givernMexico carte blanche to run this country’srnschools by remote control. Actually,rnthere is nothing “remote” about permittingrnMexican teachers with Mexicanrntextbooks to teach (in Spanish) Mexicanrnhistory, Mexican culture, and, for all Irnknow, Mexican cooking to teenage Mexicanrnstudents in taxpayer-funded Americanrnclassrooms: sponsored by the MexicanrnMinistry of Education, the SanrnDiego program includes esteem-buildingrntalks by psychologists and professorsrnso teens can “alue themselves and theirrnrich culture” and learn that “to be Mexicanrnis not to be bad, not to be stupid.”rnThere is also nothing remote aboutrnthe possibility that a large number ofrnthese Mexican students are illegal aliens.rnNor is there anything remote about thernpossibility that, since the Mexican instructorsrnwill be responsible for determiningrnwho qualifies for a high-schoolrnequivalency diploma, all students willrnbe promptly registered as voters. For ifrn46/CHRONICLESrnrnrn