Eva Aparacio's Citizenship Celebration 4-29-2025

It's my great honor and joy to congratulate Eva on passing her citizenship test. As we know, becoming a citizen is no small accomplishment. It takes dedication, courage, and a deep commitment to learning. Eva your hard work, your perseverance, your determination have all inspired us. You're not only not only did you study and prepare, but you embrace this journey with grace and with strength. We're so to have been a part of that path for you, and we're

thrilled to celebrate this major milestone with you today. The Library's mission is to support learning and growth, and you've truly brought that mission to life. So congratulations again. We also have a few other people here as you can see, who wants to congratulate you this evening. So at this time I'm going to invite Barlzil Mayor Kurd to speak on behalf of our wonderful city.

to celebrate one of those extraordinary achievements. I'm so excited to recognize Eva, who is now officially a United States citizen. To everyone here, thank you for attending the special citizenship celebration even in the rain. We really appreciate you all. Coming out tonight means so much, not just to Eva, but to all of us who believe in the power of learning, perseverance, and community. We're so proud of you, Eva, and we have a little something here for you if

you want to him out. You've shown us the American dream is still very much alive and we are lucky to have you as part of our community. And now I would like to introduce Judge Backlaw, who is so graciously offered to speak to us tonight.

is to the City of Bartlesville. So in my day job as a judge, I get to see the American story in action. I get to see the Constitution and its application and how we apply it in our laws. But tonight I get to see a different application of our constitution, and that is welcoming a new citizen to our country. And so to our newest American and a proud daughter of Mexico, bien venida, Losa salsandos, you are

now a citizen of our great country. You have a shared national story, a story that, like all great stories, is full of contradiction, courage, imperfection, and hope your story now becomes a part of ours, and our story is forever made better because of yours. I want to talk a little bit tonight about the Constitution, some constitutional decisions that were made by our Supreme Court as it pertains to immigration, and then share a few stories. But let's

be honest about the road that brought us here. The story of immigration is a hard story brought with great difficulties. The history of immigrants in our country is not without hardship or injustice. We have seen laws used as weapons, not always as shields. We've seen the Chinese Exclusion Act. We've seen the interment of Japanese Americans. We've seen the mistreatment of American labors, people who come to our country

to work as labors, legally and otherwise. And of course we see the painful struggle for civil rights and equality for many people that still struggles today. I want to tell this story because it is a story of an evolving America and an evolving Constitution. I look around the room, and most of the people in this room when the Constitution was written were not really considered a part of it.

And so as we've learned, and as we've grown, and as our Constitution has been interpreted, and its growth shows to us the promise that we have in our country. But I want to highlight a few cases that I think are interesting, especially given where we're at today. And one of those things is that I saw an interview recently of two Supreme Court justices who have since passed

justice Antoninscalia and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. They were both interviewed and asked about the legal rights of immigrants, and particularly they were asked about undocumented immigrants. Now, I will say this that one of the great things about your duty now is you are going to be participating in a system that you weren't allowed to before. But the constitutional protections of our country have always been available to you and to others. I liken it to an umbrella,

since it's reigning. Every person who stands under an umbrella is protected by it. The same thing with our constitution. There's case law that supports that belief. And Antonin Scalia, who was on the far right of the court, and Ruth bader Ginsburg, who was on the far left of the court, and we're best friends, I should point out, the best of friends, both answered this question. Do undocumented immigrants have protections under our constitution? Antonin Scalia went first

and said yes. Ruth Bader Ginsburg pointed out something more and said yes. The fourteenth Amendment of our Constitution doesn't say the word citizen. It says persons, and all persons here in the United States are afforded the protections of the Constitution regardless of citizenship. And there's a few cases where this has been developed. One was Pliler versus Doe in nineteen eighty two, decided by the United States Supreme Court.

The question was asked, do states have to pay for the education of undocumented immigrants, and the Supreme Court said, yes, they do, because those people have inherent rights being in our country to be treated the same as other children. The question then came a few years later in two thousand and one with Zidevas versus Davis, which asked whether

or not immigrants could be detained indefinitely. The Supreme Court once again said they're entitled to the same rights a due process of wherever that is, whether it's in a court of law for a criminal setting, or an administrative setting such as an immigration court. You can kind of see why I might be suggesting bringing these cases up because they are so heavy on our minds today in a lot of different ways. But the Supreme Court has spoken about these issues and I share them for a reason.

But I want to share the last case that I bring up today because it's one of my favorites. It's not my favorite because they got it right. It's my favorite because they got it wrong. An American boy, an American citizen named Freddie. During World War Two, Freddie was at or told, demanded, ordered to go into an internment camp here in the United States of America. His name was fred Kooramatsu, and the case was Koramatsu versus the

United States. Freddy was just like me, an American citizen born here, and yet he had to go into an internment camp as ordered by our government at that time for all Japanese Americans here in this country. He refused to go. Freddie decided, he's an American. He's not going into an internment camp. He has no reason to be. He's done nothing wrong. He was charged with a crime for disobeyed court order. He was sentenced and convicted and

forced into the internment camp. Anyway, he appealed. He appealed all the way to the Spring court, and he lost. It wasn't until forty years later that he had his conviction overturned. So why do I bring that up? He had to wait forty years. Well, sometimes it takes us a little longer to get it right, to figure things out. I don't think that we are a great country because we limit rights We are a great country because we

expand them. That story of Fred Kormatsu and others, and the stories that I've told you about are just as much a part of the American story as anything else that I'm going to share with you tonight, and certainly a story that you now share as a proud American citizen. Legal rights are only part of the story. Now you have civic responsibilities to vote, to use your voice to speak in our democracy. That you now have that great right.

When Thomas Jefferson James Madison, two of our founders and framers of our constitution, were putting things on paper, they knew that the people were the greatest check on government power. And what I love more anything else is a jury trial, because there is nothing more powerful than the rights of citizens to sit before their government and determine whether or not the government can do whatever it wants. Those twelve citizens.

And I hope some day you for get a letter from the courthouse that you will serve as a jur But those twelve citizens are a check upon the government to make sure that the government does not incarcerate someone without due process of law, without the rights that they've been afforded to an attorney without that right to a jury trial, to confront and see and have all witnesses there their right to remain silent and not say a

thing and make the government prove it. There is no greater responsibility in my mind as an American citizen than to sit as that check to make sure that the government cannot do whatever it wants. You are now a part of a country where justice isn't always finished. It's a progress. It's constantly be in shape, and you are one of those shapers. As I welcome you to the American family, I want to share one last little immigration story. The immigration story I want to tell you about is

a man named Valenti. Valenti lived here in Bartlesville, just off of fourteenth Street in Virginia, in an area that has nothing there now. If he lived here in Bartleswell came here to Bortsol with the hope for the American dream. Lived in a one room shack with his wife and family. He was a day laborer. When he was lucky enough, he'd get a dollar a day to work wherever he could. That didn't always pan out, so I Valenti made the

unwise decision to become a bootlegger. Now bootlegger, for those who don't know, is someone who sold alcohol illegally during prohibition here in America. Well, Lenti got caught, was arrested, convicted, and sent to prison. Now that might be where the American story would end for him. When he was arrested, he went and stood in front.

congratulate Eva, sit and enjoy experience this time together. And thank you so much again for joining us tonight.