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Naturalization is the process by which a citizen, or subject of a foreign nation or kingdom, is made a citizen of the United States. It is evident that the Constitutional Convention thought that it was important that this process should be placed under the exclusive control of the Federal Government and not of the States.

Citizenship consists in the service of the country.

Immigration specifically was laid out in the Congress, giving the power of Congress to create a uniform system of naturalization.

Immigrants are people who leave one country, one society, and move to another society. But there has to be a recipient society to which the immigrants move.

Whether we start with a provisional status and legal permanent residence... or we set up some other way to assimilate legally, you can't ever put in something that says, 'You can never become a citizen.' That's un-American.

Every person is also a citizen of some country. In their country, they have rights and responsibilities. In every other country, they are a guest.

It's been federal law for over two centuries that the child of an American born abroad is a citizen - a natural born citizen.

When you single out any particular group of people for secondary citizenship status, that's a violation of basic human rights.

Have you ever watched someone become American? Last week, at a national citizenship conference I organize, thirty immigrants from 17 countries swore an oath and became citizens of the United States. It was a stirring experience for the hundreds of people in the room.

Over the years, dozens of American companies have filed papers to trade in their U.S. corporate citizenship for citizenship in tax haven countries like Bermuda.