Bush to Attend Citizenship Rites
President Bush will participate at an outdoor naturalization ceremony for 3,500 new U.S. citizens at East Los Angeles College stadium on Sept. 16, Mexican Independence Day.
Immigration and Naturalization Service officials said the President agreed to appear in East Los Angeles after it was learned that virtually all of the prospective citizens are of Mexican descent.
Meanwhile, organizers of the annual Mexican Independence Day parade in East Los Angeles have moved the event up a day from Sunday, Sept. 17, in an attempt to persuade the President to ride in the parade after the ceremony. The White House so far has been silent on whether he might appear.
The events are part of the observance of Mexico’s revolt for independence from Spain, which was ignited by a shout of freedom-- El Grito --by a priest, Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, in 1810.
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