doesn\u2019t appear<\/a> to be so appreciative. She dislikes the process by which one swears allegiance to the United States and believes she is entitled to demand that it be changed. Olga Paule Perrier-Bilbo, who came to the U.S. from France in 2000, is refusing to recite the citizenship oath because it concludes with the words \u201cso help me God.\u201d Perrier-Bilbo is an atheist, and believes that including the phrase is \u201casserting that God exists,\u201d and violates the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.<\/p>\nImmigration officials in charge of her case understood her objections and offered to let her recite an alternate version of the oath that excludes the offending phrase.<\/p>\n
However, Ms. Perrier-Bilbo also rejected the alternative wording, claiming it would make her \u201cfeel like less than a full new citizen.\u201d She has now filed a lawsuit demanding that all references to God be removed from the Oath of Citizenship as impermissible government endorsement of religion. She says, “the phrase\u2026 sends the ancillary message to members of the audience that disbelieve in God that they are outsiders.\u201d<\/p>\n
The U.S. has long accorded constitutional rights to even the newest arrivals upon her shores and there is no bar to her suit. Nevertheless, if Ms.Perrier-Bilbo still feels like an outsider, perhaps she shouldn\u2019t be attempting to naturalize. The United States naturalization process was originally intended to assure that immigrants were able to assimilate to American values and laws \u2013 not to accommodate the subjective feelings of any and every foreigner who wishes to reside here. Becoming an American citizen is a privilege, not an entitlement.<\/p>\n
Ms. Perrier-Bilbo\u2019s suit is frightening evidence of just how little is now demanded in exchange for U.S. citizenship. When a migrant not only feels entitled to demand naturalization, but to insist that it be delivered on her terms, perhaps it\u2019s time to reemphasize that the social contract implies certain expectations on the part of the immigrant and the nation she is choosing to be a part of.