Remarks to Newly Naturalized Citizens

NATURALIZATION CEREMONY

Friday, August 10, 2018 at 10:30 a.m.

United States District Court, District of Oregon

Wayne Lyman Morse Courthouse

Welcome Remarks

Honorable Thomas M. Coffin

United States Magistrate Judge

DEBORAH COOK, RPR, CSR

COOK COURT REPORTING, INC.

EXCERPT OF PROCEEDINGS

Friday, August 10, 2018

THE COURT: Well, a sincere welcome to all of you, and congratulations on you becoming new citizens of this United States of America. I have a few remarks I wish to make to you on this occasion as you are now initiated into the United States citizenship. I note that we just pledged allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands. What exactly does that mean to you, and to all of us who honor this flag and what it symbolizes or represents? The question that we each must answer is what does our nation’s banner stand for and represent. What are the ideals and values that it symbolizes and incorporates to each of us. Perhaps the answer differs from individual to individual, and certainly the answer will be better informed the more we study and understand our nation’s history, heritage, and its roots. I present this question to myself often, especially when I preside over one of these naturalization ceremonies. So please allow me to share some of my reflections with you. First, I wish to point out what our flag does not represent to me. As I pledge my allegiance to it, and what it symbolizes. It does not represent divisiveness or tribalism. We have historically been an inclusive and diverse nation for all groups, no matter their ethnicity, culture, belief systems, economic status, heritage or social background. We welcome all of you into our fold. We are the United States, not the Divided States. This flag does not represent to me any form of racism or invidius discrimination, nor any policy that promotes those evils. It does not represent to me any inhumane practices or cruel actions that violate basic human rights. When I see government officials embracing the flag, for example, as they announce a policy that tears children away from their parents who come to this country seeking asylum and places those children in cages, I see the flag weeping, not applauding. I will tell you I wept when I saw that happening. This is not us. This is not who we are. Now, I will share that which I do see in the flag and the values, philosophy, and principles that are at its core. I see a backdrop of a Declaration of Independence that threw off the yoke of a tyrannical monarchy declared that all people are created equal, and were entitled to certain fundamental and unalienable rights, including life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Then there is the Constitution that I see in the fabric of the flag. The Constitution is the flesh and bones and spirit of our nation, and has been our guiding force for something like 229 years now. It gave birth to what is now the oldest democracy in the world, and it wisely guards against a recurrence of an autocratic form of government by establishing separate and co-equal branches of government. Then we have Congress, the Executive, and the Judiciary, with each having the ability to function as a check and balance on the other. The Constitution also memorialized the unalienable rights referenced in the Declaration of Independence, including freedom of religion and freedom from any government establishment of religion. You are free to practice whatever religion you wish, and you are also free from any requirement that you belong to a government established religion. We also have embodied in the Constitution freedom of speech. As to free speech, the First Amendment prescribes that Congress shall make no law abridging freedom of speech, or of the press. As James Madison, one of our founders emphasized at the time of its passage, “We cannot be subject to rules and laws that prohibit us from speaking our minds. Our press can print and circulate the news without fear of reprisal, even if that news is less than favorable regarding our country or government.” The First Amendment establishes the press as a critical overseer of the three co-equal branches of government by guaranteeing freedom of speech so citizens can be fully informed of the actions and decisions of those branches. Secrecy is the weapon of tyranny. Disclosure is the antidote of “We The People.” A free press is also called the Fourth Estate in the balance of our Constitutional framework. So whenever you hear someone referring to the free press as the, quote, “enemy of the people,” that’s really equivalent to describing Congress or the Judiciary as the “enemy of the people.” It makes no sense. The free press is enshrined by our Constitution as a watchdog and overseer of our government. The final point that I wish to make about what this flag symbolizes is this: It symbolizes a nation that is governed by the rule of law. Unlike dictatorships and other tyrannical forms of government, no one in our nation is above the law or beyond its reach. All of us, no matter how powerful or rich, must obey the boundaries set by the legal framework that exists, which defines our social compact between the people and its government. In short, we emphatically rejected a monarchy in 1776 when we initiated the Revolutionary War to gain our freedom. And the rule of law is the cornerstone of the government that we have established. And so the history and legacy embodied in our flag implicates many virtues and traditions that are the foundation of this country. Knowledge and respect for our Constitution and its principles of freedom and equality for everyone, fairness and justice in our institutions, equal opportunity for all in our society, hard work and sacrifice for the betterment of all, not just the privileged few. The legacy embodied in our flag indicates, as I said, many virtues and traditions that are the foundation of this country. History is full of examples of those who have brought such gifts to this country, immigrants like yourself, and made it a much better place because of their talents. I will just highlight a few. Frederick Douglass was an author, editor, and the most important African American leader of the 19th century. Until his British friends purchased his freedom from his Maryland owner in 1847, Douglass was a fugitive slave everywhere he went for nine years. By law, he was considered stolen property, an alien and illegal black person in white America. Fugitive slaves in the North were viewed by many as a threat to white jobs, a menace to the social and racial order, and a legal challenge to slavery. Many have compared Douglass’ journey to the millions of people who have been forced to flee their home countries as refugees to beg for asylum.

In Douglass’ Our Composite Nationality, he stated, “We should welcome to our ample continent all nations, tongues and peoples; and as fast as they learn our language and comprehend the duties of citizenship, we should incorporate them into the American body politics. The outspread wings of the American eagle are broad enough to shelter all who are likely to come.” Those words are worth repeating today. Many great

African American leaders have advanced the cause of the racial quality in this country in the wake of Douglass, including, of course, Dr. Martin Luther King who sacrificed his life in that epic struggle reminding us that liberty does not come easily or without great price.

Albert Einstein immigrated from Germany in 1932. He was a strident critic of racism calling it “America’s worst disease.” He believed that, “the world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.”

Jonas Salk was born in New York City in 1914 to Ashkenazi Jewish parents. His mother had immigrated from Russia at the age of 12. I like to talk about Dr. Salk because he’s an example of how this country, and in fact, the whole world, has benefitted from the children’s immigrants. We are all children of immigrants. Dr. Salk went to medical school where he excelled in academic prowess and became absorbed in medical research, particularly in the science of neurology. At the time, in the late 1940s, polio was considered one of the most frightening public health problems in the world. A 1952 United States epidemic of polio was the worst outbreak in history; 58,000 cases were reported, including 3,145 fatalities and 21,269 stricken with disabling paralysis. In 1955 Dr. Salk developed and introduced a vaccine for polio, which culminated in a worldwide polio immunization campaign using his vaccine that controlled and ultimately eradicated the devastating disease. Dr. Salk literally became a hero to the entire world, and this is the part I love. He was once asked who owned the patent for the vaccine. Now, a patent under our laws gives you the exclusive right to market whatever it is that you have patented, and it enriches the people who often — it often enriches them who own the patent. When he was asked who owned the patent, he replied, “the people.” He never patented it. It was calculated that had he patented it, it would have been worth over $1 billion. In short, Dr. Salk gifted — he gifted the vaccine to the people. He gifted it to mankind. Imagine that.

Dr. Alfredo Quinones-Hinojosa grew up in an impoverished Mexican village. He illegally hopped the fence into California. He worked in the fields, educated himself, attended Harvard Medical School, and now works at Johns Hopkins Medicine as a neurosurgeon where he operates on about 250 brain tumors every year. Dr. Q, as he is known, describes the “American dream” this way: “The American dream doesn’t mean you have a big house or a fancy car. The American dream is the ability to give back when you are so privileged to be able to do what I do. How do you figure out how to give back at least a little bit? That, to me, is the American dream.” Ibrahim Gassama immigrated from Sierra Leone. He has been a professor for the University of Oregon School of Law for more than a decade. He helped free Nelson Mandela, oversaw the first free election in South Africa, and spoke with Fidel Castro about human rights and race relations in Cuba.

Andrew Cherng immigrated from China. In 1973 Cherng opened a restaurant, the Panda Inn, in California with his father, a master chef who had emigrated to join him. Ten years later he and his wife, Peggy, opened the first Panda Express in a mall in Glendale, California. The Cherngs employ 30,000 people and have raised more than $100 million for charity. In a Forbes interview this year, he stated, “In America, nothing will stop you but yourself.”

Madeline Albright, she was born in Czechoslovakia. Her father was a diplomat. He came to this country with her when she was a small child, and his family, seeking asylum as he fled from a totalitarian regime. They were granted asylum. She went on to become a naturalized citizen, like yourselves, in 1957. She became the first female to serve as Secretary of State for the United States. She was appointed by then President Clinton to serve that post.

I could go on. The list of immigrants and the children of immigrants is really a list of our country. It is what we are, it is who we are. The key theme here is the American dream. It is not only a dream of opportunity, it is a dream of sharing, of sacrifice, of paying back to others of our community by donating our talents or skills and the fruit of our labors to the common good of all.

In the words of President John F. Kennedy, quote, “And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.” That is the essence of public service. It is not at all the same as service to those in power. It is service of the people, of your fellow citizens. It is what Dr. Jonas Salk captured when he said that the people owned the patent to his vaccine.

Finally, I end on this note. I am told that in the

Chinese alphabet they were lacking in a character for the word “challenge.” Upon reflection, they combined the character for “danger” and the character for “opportunity” to create the character for “challenge.” There is both danger and opportunity in our society today, and therein lies the challenge before you. For 229 years this nation has responded to each challenge it has faced and has prospered because it has remained faithful to its Constitution and to its fundamental principles of freedom, of equality, of justice. This is your heritage. Carry it forward. Thank you. Congratulations.

(APPLAUSE.)

COURT CLERK: This Court is adjourned.

My welcoming speech to 34 new citizens, 2/9/18

My father-in-law, Lt. Commander Perry Teaff, and his lifelong spouse, Marguerrite, are being interred at Arlington National Cemetery this weekend with full military honors. He was a Naval pilot assigned to the USS Enterprise, which was headed into its port of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. He was part of an advance scout squadron, which flew into the Japanese attack itself as it was happening. He was shot down by friendly fire mistaking him as part of the attacking force. He emerged from his damaged plane to climb into another aircraft on the runway, taking off immediately to engage the enemy. For this valor he was awarded the Navy Cross, the highest honor of the United States Navy. Later he fought at the Battle of Midway, crashing on take off from the Enterprise and losing his right eye upon impact.

In thinking of my father-in-law, I was reminded of not only his sacrifices, but of all the remarkable sacrifices the men and women of his generation made for this country. We are here today because of them. We will not be here tomorrow if we fail to follow their example and carry on their legacy.

That legacy implicates many virtues and traditions that are the foundation of this country: knowledge and respect for our Constitution and its principles of freedom and equality for everyone. Fairness and justice in our institutions. Equal opportunity for all in our society. Hard work and sacrifice for the betterment of all, not just a privileged few.

History is full of examples of those who have brought such gifts to this country and made it a much better place because of their talents. I will just highlight a few.

Frederick Douglass was an author, editor, and most important African American leader of the 19th century. Until his British friends purchased his freedom from his Maryland owner in 1847, Douglass was a fugitive slave everywhere he went for nine years. By law, he was considered stolen property, an alien and illegal black person in white America. Fugitive slaves in the North were viewed by many as a threat to white jobs, a menace to the social and racial order, and a legal challenge to slavery. Many have compared Douglass’ journey to the millions of people who have been forced to flee their home countries as refugees to beg for asylum.

In Douglass’ Our Composite Nationality, he stated, “We should welcome to our ample continent all nations, . . . tongues and peoples; and as fast as they learn our language and comprehend the duties of citizenship, we should incorporate them into the American body politic. The outspread wings of the American eagle are broad enough to shelter all who are likely to come. . . .”

Many great African American Leaders have advanced the cause of racial equality in this country in the wake of Douglass, including of course Dr. Martin Luther King who sacrificed his life in that epic struggle, reminding us that liberty does not come easily or without great price.

Albert Einstein immigrated from Germany in 1932. He was a strident critic of racism, calling it “America’s worst disease.” He believed that, “the world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.”

Jonas Salk was born in New York City in 1914 to Ashkenazi Jewish parents (his mother had immigrated from Russia at the age of 12). Dr. Salk went to medical school where he excelled in academic prowess and became absorbed in medical research, particularly in the science of virology. At the time, in the late 1940s, polio was considered one of the most frightening public health problems in the world. A 1952 U.S. epidemic of polio was the worst outbreak in history: 58,000 cases were reported including 3,145 fatalities and 21, 269 stricken with disabling paralysis. In 1955, Dr. Salk developed and introduced a vaccine for polio, which culminated in a worldwide polio immunization campaign using his vaccine that controlled and ultimately eradicated the devastating disease. Dr. Salk literally became a hero to the entire world. He was once asked who owned the patent for the vaccine, and he replied “the people.” It was calculated that a patent would have been worth 7 billion dollars. In short, Dr. Salk gifted the vaccine to mankind.

Dr. Alfredo Quinones-Hinojosa grew up in an impoverished Mexican village, illegally hopped the fence into California, attended Harvard Medical School, and now works at Johns Hopkins Medicine as a neurosurgeon where he operates on about 250 brain tumors every year. Dr. Q, as he is known, describes the “American dream” this way:

“The American dream doesn’t mean you have a big house or a fancy car. The American dream is the ability to give back when you are so privileged to be able to do what I do. How do you figure out how to give back at least a little bit? That, to me, is the American dream.”

Ibrahim Gassama immigrated from Sierra Leone. He has been a professor for the University of Oregon School of Law for more than a decade, helped free Nelson Mandela, oversaw the first free election in South Africa, and spoke with Fidel Castro about human rights and race relations in Cuba.

Andrew Cherng immigrated from China. In 1973 Cherng opened a restaurant, the Panda Inn, in California with his father, a master chef who had emigrated to join him. Ten years later he and his wife, Peggy, opened the first Panda Express in a mall in Glendale, California. The Cherngs employ 30,000 people and have raised more than $100 million for charity. In a Forbes interview this year he stated, “In America nothing will stop you but yourself.”

I could go on. The list of immigrants and the children of immigrants is really a list of our country. It is what we are. It is who we are. The key theme here is the American dream. It is not only a dream of opportunity, it is a dream of sharing, of sacrifice, of paying back to others of our community by donating our talents, our skills, and the fruit of our labors to the common good of all. In the words of President John F. Kennedy, “And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.” That is the essence of public service. It is not at all the same as obedience to those in power. It is service to the people, to your fellow citizens. It is what Dr. Jonas Salk captured when he said that “the people” owned the patent to his vaccine.

Finally, I end on this note. I am told that in the Chinese alphabet, they were lacking in a character for the word “challenge.” Upon reflection, they combined the character for “danger” and the character for “opportunity” to create the character for “challenge.” There is both danger and opportunity in our society today, and therein lies the challenge before you. For 228 years this nation has responded to each challenge it has faced and has prospered because it has remained faithful to its Constitution and to its fundamental principles of freedom, of equality, of justice. This is your heritage. Carry it forward.

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

DISTRICT OF OREGON

THE HON. THOMAS M. COFFIN, JUDGE PRESIDING

In The Matter of the Naturalization Ceremony of 26 new citizens.

___________________________________

EXCERPT OF PROCEEDINGS

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2017

THE COURT: Normally I give a pretty upbeat, kind of almost jocular welcoming remarks, but I would have to have my head in the sand not to recognize that certain things are going on in this country right now that probably necessitate a more serious tone in my remarks. We just went through a contentious election. And even after the election, we still have strong emotions and a lot of divisiveness out there. There’s been talk of building walls, immigration bans, and that sort of thing, and so I wouldn’t be surprised if some of you are wondering, well, now we are new citizens, but are we really welcome here?

And I want to tell you as a representative of this government that the answer to that question is absolutely yes, a strong and emphatic yes. You are welcome.

We appreciate the diversity of your background. That is one of our strengths, quite frankly, is this diversity. Immigrants have always been the backbone of the United States of America. The United States was founded to welcome people who were fleeing from other countries, who were refugees from religious persecution, refugees from political persecution, refugees from ethnic persecution. We have a statue of liberty representing that we welcome people from every place on this planet, and you are equal to anyone else who is here in the United States and are citizens.

So I want to emphasize that you are definitely welcome. And we have some divisiveness going on that I want to talk about, I want to put out there, that needs to be dealt with, and you may have to deal with it. We have elements of fear, bigotry, hatred, racism, sexism, and we have to deal with that. And we have to be above that. We have to counter that. And how do we counter that? How do we deal with that?

Well, the greatest virtues we have, I think, as a nation and as people are compassion and empathy. We have always been a welcoming people, by and large. We have welcomed people from other countries, the refugees, and people that came here to flee persecution that I talked about.And I just saw on the news yesterday a story about a 36-year-old woman from Mexico who came to this country when she was a teenager, has lived here 20 years, has several children, and we have deported her because she is an undocumented alien. And I have always wondered about the wisdom of separating parents from their children and separating families from each other because of our deportation policies. This is where empathy and compassion must be brought into the decisions that we make. And I want to illustrate what I am talking about with a personal story.

Before I was a judge — I have 45 years of service for the government. I have served as a judge on this court for 25 years. For 20 years, 21 years before being appointed to the bench, I was a federal prosecutor for the Department of Justice. During some of that time, I was chief of the criminal division in the Southern District of California in San Diego. And I will never forget a case that I handled. It involved a young woman, 18 years of age, from Mexico, who was undocumented, and her husband was working in the Los Angeles area. And she traveled up from Culicacán, where her village was, to join her husband. She went to her aunt’s house. Her aunt’s name was Secundina in Tijuana. And there, she was met by a cousin, who had a green card who came down from Los Angeles. Her name was Josefina. And she was put in the trunk of the car of — Josefina’s car to sneak across the border so that she could join her husband. And she was stopped at the point of entry, port of entry and discovered by immigration officials, U.S. immigration officials. She was separated from Josefina and detained for a while by immigration officials. It was one o’clock in the morning, and she was sent back by foot to Mexico, to Tijuana.

Now, I need to tell you what was going on at the border at the time. It was literally a war zone. They had bands of armed robbers that were preying upon undocumented aliens that were trying to come to the United States and robbing them of their belongings. And it was a very violent area where people were being shot and robbed and killed. And it was well known that that was the environment at that time. It was so bad that the San Diego Police formed undercover groups posing as illegal aliens so that they could arrest some of these robbers. But they got into shootouts, and they finally called that off because it was too dangerous. That was the environment that existed at the time they sent, her name was Maria Lopez de Felix, the 18-year-old, back on foot by herself. She never made it. They found her body the next day, and it was in an area that was on the United States side of the border, an area that some of these armed robbers would come in and prey upon undocumented aliens that were trying to come here.

Well, we investigated the case, the FBI and my office, and I was in charge of the investigation. And at first appearances, she had been raped and killed by these robbers. But upon closer examination, we developed evidence that that’s the way the killer wanted to make it appear. But the real killer was actually a federal police officer who was prosecuted and convicted. In the course of investigating, I interrogated the officials that made the decision to send her back, and I asked them, why did you send her back on foot, at night, alone into this environment? Well, she was here illegally. Well, I asked them, if this had been your daughter, how would you have wanted her to be treated? And they looked at me as if I was out of my mind. Well, our daughter wouldn’t be sneaking into another country. Well, of course not. Your daughter has no need to.

This is where empathy and compassion come in. Empathy is the ability to put yourself in the shoes of other people, and compassion is the care and the love and the support you give somebody that is in the circumstances that are presented by the situation. That’s how we must deal with these issues that are out there that are dividing us. That’s how we must deal with issues of fear, for example. Part of what was happening with Maria is a fear of Maria coming into this country illegally, like she was a bad person or something. She is not a bad person.

I was born in 1945, a period that probably represents a time in our country when we were the most united because we had just fought a war against three powers that were trying to take over the world, Japan, Germany, and Italy, and we were successful, along with our allies, in defeating those powers. But even though we were probably at a stage of our existence where we were most united in battling the enemy in World War II, we had a very dark decision that we made, a very wrong decision that we made. And I am talking about the internment of our Japanese Americans. We have since apologized for that. We have said never again. And we must remember that in this era that we are in now. Note that when the Japanese Americans were interned, we didn’t take the same action against German Americans or Italian Americans, even though we were at war with those countries as well. We let the fear of a person, based on their ethnicity, cause us — we let that make us adopt this internment policy that we didn’t apply to other national backgrounds, national origin backgrounds. That was wrong. We discriminated. And we must be careful that we not go down that path again. We must rise above that. We must tap into our strength, our compassion, our empathy, and we must overcome our fear.

Now, I said I’d get back to the Pledge of Allegiance. You are pledging allegiance to the Republic. The Republic is defined by the Constitution of the United States. Always remember that. The Constitution of the United States creates a system of government where you have three equal branches of government: The Executive Branch, Congress, and the Judicial Branch. Each branch is equal and independent, and each branch performs the function of our system of checks and balances. And that system is what keeps this Republic alive and functioning, and if that system breaks down, if the branches aren’t recognized as equal and independent, it’s not going to be the same form of government that we have now. So we must also be vigilant, always be vigilant in upholding the system that is outlined in the Constitution.

There’s more in the Constitution. There’s the Bill of Rights and the Amendments, and those are important too. The individual rights that you have must not be surrendered. You must always stand up for those rights. You must never be afraid to exercise those rights. Individual civil liberties and rights are not taken away, but they can be surrendered. They typically are surrendered out of fear, when the people are sufficiently fearful of some sort of threat that they then become willing to surrender those rights. Once surrendered, you will not get them back. Very difficult to get back once they are surrendered.

Let’s talk about the First Amendment. Freedom of the press, freedom of speech. I know of no autocratic form of government anywhere in the world that tolerates a free press. A free press is just as important to our Republic, our Democracy, our constitutional form of government, as the three branches are. Without a free press, you, the people, will not have the information you need to make your decisions that affect the way you are governed. So always remember that. And don’t follow any suggestion that you should distrust the free press as being somehow dishonest. Support the freedom of speech.

Support the freedom of religion. The First Amendment gives the freedom of religion to everyone. It also, conversely, prohibits the establishment of a state religion, an official religion. So every religion in this country is equal in terms of the ability of its adherence to practice that religion. Remember that as well.

So those are my remarks. And, again, I want to emphasize, you are enthusiastically welcome as new citizens. We appreciate you. We value you. You strengthen our country.

Thank you.

THE CLERK: This court’s is adjourned.