Part of the process of becoming a naturalized United States citizen is demonstrating knowledge of your new country’s history and government. During your interview, you will be asked up to 10 questions from a list of 100, and must get six correct to pass. Applicants 65 years old and up who have been living as a lawful permanent resident for at least 20 years follow a “20 for 20″ rule: They are only required to study 20 of the 100 civics test questions, with a minimum of six correct required to pass. We’ll mark these with bold type. More information can be found in the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services booklet M-638 (revised 12/09), called  ”Learn About the United States: Quick Civics Lessons for the Naturalization Test.”

Section B. System of Government

Q13.  Name one branch of the U.S. government.

A.  Congress, Legislative, the President, Executive, the Courts, Judicial

There are three branches of the Unites States government, as set up by the Constitution. These are the Legislative, the Executive and the Judicial.

The Legislative branch is made up of the United States Senate and the United State House of Representatives. It is called a bicameral legislature because of these two “houses.” These two houses make up the Congress, and they are the elected officials that make the laws of the land. The Senate has 100 members, made up of two senators from each of the 50 states. The Senate is called the upper house of Congress. The lower house of Congress is the House of Representatives. The House has 435 members, and the states are represented proportionally — meaning the states with the largest populations have the most representatives. California, the largest state by population, has the most representatives at 53. The main job of the House is to pass federal legislation, or laws that affect the entire country. Before they become locked in as law, however, they must be approved by a majority vote by the Senate. If the Senate approves the House bill, the proposal goes to the President, who can sign it into law or deny it, using the veto. The only way a House bill can become law without the president’s involvement is if it passes the House AND Senate by a two-thirds majority vote.

The Senate  has several exclusive powers not granted to the House, including the oversight of treaties with other countries; approval of members of the Cabinet, federal judges, military leaders and ambassadors; and the power to conduct trials of federal officials impeached by the House. Two presidents in recent U.S. history have been impeached and put on trial in the Senate, Nixon and Clinton.

The Legislative branch of the government is established by Article I of the Constitution.

Article II of the Constitution establishes the second branch of the government, the Executive. The job of the Executive branch is to enforce the laws the Congress passes. The President of the United States is the head of the Executive branch, an office currently held by Barack Obama. The Vice President (Joe Biden) and the President’s Cabinet, made up of the Secretary of State (Hilary Clinton), the Secretary of the Treasury (Timothy F. Geithner), the Secretary of Defense (Robert M. Gates), the Secretary of Justice (Attorney General Eric H. Holder, Jr.), the Secretary of the Interior (Kenneth L. Salazar), the Secretary of Agriculture (Thomas J. Vilsack), the Secretary of Commerce (Gary F. Locke), the Secretary of Labor (Hilda L. Solis), the Secretary of Health and Human Services (Kathleen Sebelius), the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (Shaun L.S. Donovan), the Secretary of Transportation (Ray LaHood), the Secretary of Energy (Steven Chu), the Secretary of Education (Arne Duncan), the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (Eric K. Shinseki), and the the Secretary of Homeland Security (Janet A. Napolitano).

The third branch of the government, the Judicial, is set up by Article III of the Constitution, and is headed by the Supreme Court. The purpose of the Judicial branch is to make rulings to ensure the laws of the land agree with the Constitution. People can challenge laws through the court system, starting locally and working their way up to the Supreme Court, a nine-member body that has the final say on whether a law is constitutional.

Throughout its history, millions of immigrants have landed at America’s shores. Their practical contributions are still felt in every field of endeavor including agriculture, industry, and the service trades, but within the great immigrant migration to America there also came gutsy and talented individualists, artists, and dreamers. Many of these exceptional talents have gone on to win worldly renown, and their names have lived on in history.

Ellis Island’s Famous Immigrants tells the story of some of the best known of these legendary characters and records their actual immigration experience at Ellis Island. Celebrities featured within Ellis Island’s records include such entrepreneurs as Max Factor, Charles Atlas, and Etorre Boiardi; painters Arshile Gorky and Joseph Stella; authors Isaac Asimov and Ludwig Bemelmans; spiritual figures Father Flanagan and Krishnamurti; Hollywood actors Claudette Colbert, Rudolph Valentino, and Bob Hope; sports figures Knute Rockne and Johnny Weissmuller; and Supreme Court jurist Felix Frankfurter.

You do not always have to be an artist or a dreamer to make a contribution to our American culture. Abraham Zapruder was simply at the right place and at the right time to make one of the most historical contributions to our society in the twentieth century.

Zapruder, born in Ukraine, immigrated with his family to the United States in 1920 settling in Brooklyn, New York. In 1941, following a job offer by a friend, Zapruder moved to Dallas to work for Nardis, a local sportswear company. He was a supporter of the Democratic Party and an admirer of President John F. Kennedy. When he learned that Kennedy’s motorcade would pass through Dealey Plaza, he filmed the procession with one of the latest Bell and Howell 8mm cameras. His film captured the assassination of the President and has become one of the most studied pieces of film in history. The film became an essential part of the Warren Commission Hearings.

The United States no longer processes immigrants through Ellis Island. The immigration laws have changed through the years, and it is much harder to immigrate to America today than it was in the days of the famous Ellis Island immigrants mentioned in this story.

Whether you live in Dallas, or outside the United States wanting to live in Dallas, you may be interested in immigrating to America to be a citizen or in becoming a permanent resident. Who knows, maybe you, your relative, or someone you know who wants to be a legal resident in the United States may make the next significant historical contribution to American society just like Abraham Zapruder.

If you are having a difficult time understanding our complicated immigration laws, you need legal counsel. Make this the right time and the right place in history by contacting us right now at www.immigrationlawstation.com, and we will help you find an immigration lawyer in your area who will answer any legal questions you may have about immigration law.