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There's no such thing as second class citizenship. That's like telling me you can be a little bit pregnant.

I'm not saying to you that every element of segregation and discrimination and second-class citizenship has changed. But in the political sense, the world has changed. People now who want to vote can vote.

I fully recognize we need to improve the path to citizenship, just as we need to value the hard work of folks who become American citizens legally.

Strengthening our identity is one way of reinforcing people's confidence and sense of citizenship and well-being.

The right of every American to first-class citizenship is the most important issue of our time.

Women are still second-class citizens.

I'm tired of being treated like a second-class citizen.

When millions of law-abiding people achieve citizenship, our communities benefit, and the U.S. economy grows and strengthens.

In the end, a new Americanization movement can't just be about listing our privileges and immunities, which we catalog in our laws. It also has to be about reinforcing our duties, which we convey in our habits.

Talk of citizenship today is often thin and tinny. The word has a faintly old-fashioned feel to it when used in everyday conversation. When evoked in national politics, it's usually accompanied by the shrill whine of a descending culture-war mortar.