She’s One Step Closer to Citizenship

Spurred by the case of a mentally and physically disabled Anaheim woman, the U.S. House of Representatives voted unanimously Tuesday to remove the last major hurdle to citizenship for many people with severe disabilities: reciting the oath of allegiance.

The bill, co-sponsored by Reps. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach) and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), would empower the U.S. attorney general to grant exceptions to the oath requirement for otherwise qualified applicants.

The bill is an amended version of one first sponsored by Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) that senators passed unanimously in July. The Senate is expected to endorse the measure as early as today. It then would go to the president for his signature.

For the parents of Vijai Rajan, 25, Tuesday was a time to begin rejoicing, because their dream appeared close to reality.

“This is very emotional and exciting for us,” said mother Shawn Rajan. “We are excited not only for our daughter, but for a lot of people who could be helped if this becomes a law.”

The legislation could affect thousands of people with severe physical and mental disabilities, as well as senior citizens who have dementia, said Micheal Hill, a lobbyist for the country’s Catholic bishops in Washington, D.C.

He called the bill a significant vote for compassion, not only for people like Vijai Rajan, but for their loved ones. “This maybe shows that there’s a bi-partisan recognition that immigrants and their families contribute much to this country,” Hill said.

Vijai Rajan, born in India, has lived in the United States since she was 4 months old. She has cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy and Crohn’s disease, and cannot say or understand the oath of allegiance, her family said.

The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service had said the law did not allow it to make an exception to the oath requirement. The Rajan family--immigrants from India who had been seeking citizenship for their daughter for six years--filed a discrimination lawsuit against the INS in April. INS officials now say they support the goal of the legislation.

Cox called the INS’ handling of the Rajan case “a cruel joke” and unnecessarily prolonged.

In Utah, a federal judge last year ordered that a mentally and physically disabled man with Down syndrome be granted citizenship without taking the oath of allegiance.

“I think the fact that the INS chose to litigate this and argue that they did not have the authority to grant a waiver is an indication of their predisposition,” Cox said.

INS spokesman Bill Strassberger said federal law permits disabled applicants to skip the English or U.S. history tests, but does require everyone to pledge his or her loyalty.

“The issue, from the beginning, was that we cannot make the exception because the law does not allow us to,” he said.

The immigration agency has allowed disabled people to acknowledge the oath with blinks of the eye or other cues, Strassberger said. But for many severely disabled people, even this is impossible.

“We’re not viciously trying to find a way to deny people citizenship,” Strassberger said. But “there’s an argument to be made by some that waiving the oath requirement lessens the act of naturalization.”

Rajan’s parents, Shawn and Sunder, say nothing could lessen the value of American citizenship. They and Rajan’s older sister are U.S. citizens. Rajan was born in India only because her mother was visiting there 25 years ago.

Because the Rajans had lost another baby in childbirth, Shawn Rajan’s mother wanted to be with her daughter through the latter stages of pregnancy. So Shawn Rajan returned to India, where Vijai was born.

Shawn Rajan became a citizen in 1994, just after Vijai’s 18th birthday. Had she become a citizen before Vijai’s birthday, the girl automatically would have qualified for citizenship.

“One of the most important things for anybody, whether they are disabled or not, is to have a sense of belonging,” Shawn Rajan said. “We have it. But she does not have it. . . . We cannot stand for her to ever be treated differently than us.”

Sweet-tempered, cheerful and child-like, Vijai Rajan lies bedridden--often dressed in colorful pajamas. She cannot comprehend the issue that has consumed her parents since receiving the INS denial letter late last year.

But Shawn Rajan says her daughter knows something is going on. “She can tell we’re happy, and so she’s even more happy than usual.”

Shawn Rajan said she and her husband wanted to ensure that their daughter has the protection of citizenship after they die.

“She’s going to be living with us for as long as we’re around. We’re not expecting anybody to support her, but we want her to be an American.”