When an immigrant is seeking immigration lawclinic.com/Family-Based-Immigration/”>citizenship, the goal of becoming a naturalized citizen may seem like the answers to all one’s problems. However, this is not so for one American who gained his citizenship in 2010. When the man applied for work with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, he admitted to working at a restaurant under a Social Security number that was not actually his.
According to the man, he arrived in the United States with his family when he was 10 years of age. At 15 years of age, he began to use a false Social Security number and continued to do so for about seven years prior to becoming a permanent and legal resident in 2007. The fact he admitted to this on his job application caused the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to reject his request for employment. The corrections department explained that his use of a false Social Security number indicated a lack of integrity, good judgment and honesty.
On Monday, Dec. 9, the man brought forward a discrimination lawsuit claiming that the corrections department has a policy that is unfair to Latino workers. According to various activists who work to increase the rights of immigrants, the results of the case could affect immigrants throughout the state of California. For example, numerous immigrants arrive on United States soil with their families, and they remain here illegally, but not by their own choosing. These immigrants do not choose to break the law consciously, but rather they are forced to if they want to do honest work for a living. In some cases, the children of non-legal immigrants are given false social security numbers from their parents and they do not even know it.
The pathway to citizenship can be a long and difficult road, and, for some, the problems do not even stop there. Nevertheless, being a citizen or having legal resident status in the United States, and having access to all the benefits that come with it, is exponentially better than living under the constant through of deportation. For California residents who are trying to expedite the process of gaining citizenship, legal strategies are available which can help them gain legal status and obtain citizenship faster and more easily.
Source: Los Angeles Times, U.S. citizen born in Mexico sues state prisons over job rejection, Kate Linthicum, Dec. 10, 2013
