My grandmother is ill with pneumonia and making a slow recovery, as it is to be expected by someone who is 94 years old. She was hospitalized for just shy of one week. I am fairly certain it was her only time in her life ever to be admitted to a hospital. She has always been that healthy. Of course, when she lived in Korea, there also were few hospitals and few ever were admitted to hospitals for illness. Often, people just died in their homes - like my grandfather, her husband.
When my grandmother immigrated to the United States in the late 1960s, she was a widow in her mid-50s. Halmoni (as she is called in Korean) spoke no English, did not drive, and had no employable job skills beyond being a caretaker and homemaker. She could have worked in a factory or perhaps a restaurant. Instead, she cared for her grandchildren and tended to a small garden in the backyard. Forty years later and halmoni still speaks no English, never learned to drive, and never held a "real" job. She only has returned to visit Korea on three or four occasions.
After she was released from the hospital, my brother and I were talking on the telephone about her condition and care. He commented that Medicare and Medicaid would hopefully cover all the costs, as my halmoni has no income and no savings.
In the 1990s, halmoni finally became an American citizen. It was during this period when Congress was pushing legislation to restrict Medicare/Medicaid to only U.S. citizens (i.e., not to permanent residents). There was a lot of fear in the immigrant communities, including many Korean immigrants, and many elderly Koreans rushed to get their citizenships. Some were fearful of being sent back to Korea if they failed. It was a horrible time. I remember volunteering in California to encourage people to apply for citizenship.
I believe my aunt took her to take the citizenship test and served as her translator. Back then, as it is still required today, people must pass a brief civics quiz (answering something like 6 out of 10 questions correct) to gain citizenship. Imagine a 80+ year old non-native speaker taking this test. Amazing. She was so proud. Fortunately, Congress never passed the law making citizenship an eligibility requirement for Medicare/Medicaid. She would still receive these health benefits even without citizenship.
Well, the NYTimes reported today that the Immigration officials have unveiled a new, harder citizenship test.
Legal immigrants who are eligible to become citizens must pass the civics exam as well as a test of English proficiency in reading and writing. In a one-on-one oral examination, an immigration officer asks the applicant 10 questions of varying degrees of difficulty selected from the list of 100. To pass, the applicant must answer 6 of those 10 questions correctly.
I was struck by the underlined requirement of passing a test of English proficiency in reading and writing! What?! Huh?! When did this addition get added to the mix? I cannot imagine my halmoni passing this new set of requirements.
After living in this country for over 40 years, I think she is as American as apple pie and baseball. Heck, this is a woman who loves professional wrestling. How much more all-American can a woman get? Yet by today's standard, she would not be an American citizen. Good grief, Charlie Brown.
Posted by richlee at September 28, 2007 11:00 AMwow, i had no idea this was going on! my grandmother was quite similar--came to the u.s. in her 40s or 50s and lived in here for 50 years, only returning to china once i think.
i can't believe they can require english proficiency! i am a writing teacher and when talking to my students about language diversity, i always point out that the u.s. doesn't have an official language (although states do). this is ridiculous.
Posted by: RobynT at September 30, 2007 10:13 PMI strongly disagree that this is ridiculous. Have you seen or heard about the political turmoil in Belgium and even talk about breaking up between the French and Dutch speaking regions? And the desire by many of the French speaking people in Canada to break up that country? Such a situation is unlikely in the USA, but its the principle. A united and strong nation needs a common language. There are two issues to be concerned about. First, is how strict is the requirements. Second is that there should perhaps be exceptions or lesser requirements based on age or on other factors that may make learning a language more difficult.