Immigration Is About Hope and Risk, Opportunities and Sacrifice, and Above All—It’s About Love and Family

The remarks of Angela Cheng at the Annual New Americans Campaign “United for Citizenship” Conference in Orange County, August 2019

Good morning! My name is Angela Cheng; I’m a program officer
at The JPB Foundation.

JPB is a national foundation based in New York and we have
supported the NAC since 2012. In April we renewed our grant for the NAC for two
years. JPB’s mission is to advance opportunity in the United States through
transformational initiatives that empower those living in poverty, enrich and
sustain our environment, and enable pioneering medical research.

The NAC advances multiple interests of the foundation:
immigrant integration, civic engagement, and economic opportunity. We recognize
that citizenship has significant social, economic, and civic benefits for new
citizens and their families, and for local communities and the country as a
whole. The NAC is also an important grant for us because it builds a network,
an infrastructure, and supports local organizations through best practices and
peer learning, while reaching people who are directly impacted.

My first NAC conference was in Chicago in the spring of
2017. It’s hard to believe that two years have passed!

At the Chicago conference I also offered some welcome
remarks, right after Rahm Emanuel, which was kind of intimidating. I don’t want
to repeat the same remarks from two years ago, but I do want to repeat that, as
a naturalized citizen, I have a lot of personal appreciation for the NAC.

I naturalized 15 years ago, in 2004—just in time to vote in the
election that year between George W. Bush and John Kerry. At the time I thought
it was the most important election of my lifetime. Becoming a citizen was a
very important milestone for me and I “celebrate” my citizenship every time I
vote, and every time I travel with my US passport.

As an immigrant, I reflect all the time, and especially in
the past few years, on the opportunities and challenges of being an immigrant
in this country. Whether it’s a privileged choice, or
a life-saving necessity, or elsewhere along that continuum, immigration is
about hope and risk, opportunities and sacrifice, and above all—it’s about love
and family. It’s all of the nuances that make us human, regardless of what we
look like or where we come from. Immigration is not a problem, and it is not a
number.

Lately it’s been easy to feel overwhelmed by the
anti-immigrant rhetoric and environment. But whenever I attend a NAC meeting or
event, I am always so inspired and energized by the work that all of you do. So
thank you for all that you do, for being here, for your passion, and your tireless
work. I look forward to continuing to learn from you and to learn with
you.

Thank you.