The "U.S. Office of Citizenship" was created a few years ago and is part of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The first and current head of the Office, Alfonso Aguilar, was appointed by president Bush in 2003. His biography reveals that he's a member of two highly questionable groups. (Go to uscis.gov and search, or enter this: preview.tinyurl.com/2948hx)

The first group is LULAC, the League of United Latin American Citizens. If that group has ever opposed illegal immigration, I'm not aware of it.

The other group is NALEO, the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials. They collaborate with the government of Mexico on an award that generally speaking marks the recipient as assisting Mexico with their goal of sending their citizens to the U.S. illegally. They also appeared with LULAC and with MALDEF (a group that has at least an indirect link to the Mexican government) at a press conference where they demanded an end to deportations until "comprehensive immigration reform" passes.

Aguilar was in Springfield, Missouri last week and put on quite the show to local Rotary clubs. While he promoted assimilation and opposed "parallel communities", his main goal was to be a cheap pimp for Bush's immigration position:

"Immigration is without a doubt the issue of the day," Aguilar said. "Immigrants are going where there are jobs. You have a large number of undocumented immigrants and it is in (your) best interest to know who is here."

He promoted President George Bush's guest-worker program saying that the current legal process to gain U.S. citizenship is mired in a bureaucracy that can take years. He also said that without immigrants doing the work that Americans won't, the U.S. economy would collapse.

"Immigrants can help revitalize sectors of your cities," he said. "I encourage the mayors to develop a strategic plan (to help those immigrants) become a part of the community."

...Aguilar conceded that most Americans will not work for the wages paid to immigrants. But he also stressed that regardless of wages, some industries like poultry processing plants cannot find enough Americans to "fill those jobs."

"Today's unemployment rate is 4.5 percent," he said. "We are in a period of transition. Immigrants are not driving wages down - although (immigrant labor) may affect some sectors."

..."Don't fear immigrants," he said. "They are good, hardworking people that share our values. They are not here to impose their culture."

...He said the "rule of law" is the most important value...

When he said that, the audience should have erupted in laughter. Millions of illegal aliens are here now because the Bush administration has ignored the "rule of law". And, the idea that our economy would collapse is obscene coming from someone who's supposedly working for the U.S. Only a small number of job types are held by low-skill immigrants and illegal aliens. While the economy would take a hit if they all left tomorrow, we'd make out OK. And, of course, not all "immigrants" "share our values", and while the vast majority of "immigrants" don't have an explicit plan to "impose their culture", that is indeed what happens to a certain extent.

Press 2 if you believe anything Aguilar said.

Related:
USCIS Director compares immigration "reform" to civil rights movement
Citizenship and Immigration Ombudsman is former president of AILA chapter