She's one of America's newest citizens — and one of its oldest.
Watch this 101-year-old woman become an American citizen.
Becoming a U.S. citizen is a lengthy and complicated process that includes all kinds of forms, interviews, tests, and oaths.
But that didn't stop this 101-year-old woman from becoming a proud, naturalized American citizen on Tuesday, Dec. 29, 2015.
Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images.
Her name is Juana Hernández.
Eight years ago, at her daughter's urging, she moved to Miami from Tegucigalpa, Honduras.
So what made her want to go all out for citizenship now?
She wanted to show her two sons back in Honduras how it's done.
“I want them to come,” she told the Miami Herald. (It's a lot easier to get an immigration visa if you're related to a U.S. citizen.)
Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images.
The immigration process is notoriously long, difficult, and expensive.
Juana had to fill out the 21-page application for naturalization. She was also facing the challenge of a roughly $600 application filing fee. Luckily, a local organization helped her fill out the application (folks can actually face long delays or even deportation over a single mistake in the application). She was also able to apply for a fee waiver.
Many immigrants struggle to go through the overly-complicated system. It's difficult, confusing, expensive, and in many cases, it's a dead end. It's precisely because so many undocumented immigrants find themselves without a path to citizenship that President Obama has been pushing for reform.
Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images.
"We didn’t raise the Statue of Liberty with her back to the world, we did it with her light shining as a beacon to the world,"President Obama said during a Nov. 21, 2014 speech, urging comprehensive reform:
"And whether we were Irish or Italians or Germans crossing the Atlantic, or Japanese or Chinese crossing the Pacific; whether we crossed the Rio Grande or flew here from all over the world — generations of immigrants have made this country into what it is. It’s what makes us special."
President Obama announces executive action on immigration in November 2014. Photo by Jim Bourg-Pool/Getty Images.
And while there's been a big push for immigration reform for a while, it still seems to be a ways off.
Last year, the Senate passed a bill that would have helped streamline the immigration process. Unfortunately, the bill never came up for a vote in the House of Representatives. President Obama has been able to take some action through executive order, but it's been more focused on delaying deportations rather than really fixing the system.
One of the most broken parts of the system? How visas are granted.
Right now, the U.S. government caps the number of immigration visas granted per year. It also specifically caps how many immigrants can come to the U.S. from any given country.
It doesn't make a whole lot of sense to cap immigration visas by country. Think about it: Depending on the situation and what's going on in the world, those numbers need to be able to shift. We have a similar cap system in place for refugees, and that's what's led to the bottleneck for Syrian refugees. Here's what the Department of Homeland Security has to say:
"In general, family-sponsored preference visas are limited to 226,000 visas per year and employment-based preference visas are limited to 140,000 visas per year. ... In addition, there are limits to the percentage of visas that can be allotted based on an immigrant’s country of chargeability (usually the country of birth). When the demand is higher than the supply of visas for a given year in any given category or country, a visa queue (waiting list or backlog) forms."
If there wasn't this hard cap on immigrants, there wouldn't be so many undocumented immigrants living in the U.S.
If we were to give immigrants a clearer path to citizenship, we wouldn't have to worry about anyone being undocumented.
It's reasonable to think that most undocumented immigrants would like to become full citizens if given the opportunity.
But a system that threatens to deport folks who want to become citizens when they come forward? That's a broken system.
Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images
So let's hope Congress takes up immigration reform soon. It'd be a great 102nd birthday present for Juana.
Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images.
There's a reason why some people can perfectly copy accents, and others can't
Turns out, there's a neurodivergent link.
A woman in black long sleeve shirt stands in front of mirror.
Have you ever had that friend who goes on vacation for four days to London and comes back with a full-on Queen's English posh accent? "Oooh I left my brolly in the loo," they say, and you respond, "But you're from Colorado!" Well, there are reasons they (and many of us) do that, and usually it's on a pretty subconscious level.
It's called "accent mirroring," and it's actually quite common with people who are neurodivergent, particularly those with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). According Neurolaunch, the self-described "Free Mental Health Library," "Accent mirroring, also known as accent adaptation or phonetic convergence, is the tendency to unconsciously adopt the accent or speech patterns of those around us. This linguistic chameleon effect is not unique to individuals with ADHD, but it appears to be more pronounced and frequent in this population."
Essentially, when people have conversations, we're constantly "scanning" for information—not just the words we're absorbing, but the inflection and tone. "When we hear an accent, our brains automatically analyze and categorize the phonetic features, prosody, and intonation patterns," writes Neurolaunch. For most, this does result in copying the accent of the person with whom we're speaking. But those with ADHD might be more sensitive to auditory cues. This, "coupled with a reduced ability to filter out or inhibit the impulse to mimic…could potentially explain the increased tendency for accent mirroring."
While the article explains further research is needed, they distinctly state that, "Accent mirroring in individuals with ADHD often manifests as an unconscious mimicry of accents in social situations. This can range from subtle shifts in pronunciation to more noticeable changes in intonation and speech rhythm. For example, a person with ADHD might find themselves unconsciously adopting a Southern drawl when conversing with someone from Texas, even if they’ve never lived in the South themselves."
People are having their say online. On the subreddit r/ADHDWomen, a thread began: "Taking on accents is an ADHD thing?" The OP shares, "My whole life, I've picked up accents. I, myself, never noticed, but everyone around me would be like, 'Why are you talking like that??' It could be after I watched a show or movie with an accent or after I've traveled somewhere with a different accent than my 'normal.'
They continue, "Apparently, I pick it up fast, but it fades out slowly. Today... I'm scrolling Instagram, I watch a reel from a comedian couple (Darcy and Jeremy. IYKYK) about how Darcy (ADHD) picks up accents everywhere they go. It's called ADHD Mirroring??? And it's another way of masking."
(The OP is referring to Darcy Michaels and his husband Jeremy Baer, who are both touring comedians based in Canada.)
Hundreds of people on the Reddit thread alone seem to relate. One comments, "Omfg I've done this my whole life; I'll even pick up on the pauses/spaces when I'm talking to someone who is ESL—but English is my first language lol."
Sometimes, it can be a real issue for those around the chameleon. "I accidentally mimicked a waitress's weird laugh one time. As soon as she was out of earshot, my family started to reprimand me, but I was already like 'oh my god I don’t know why I did that, I feel so bad.'"
Many commenters on TikTok were shocked to find out this can be a sign of ADHD. One jokes, "Omg, yes, at a store the cashier was talking to me and she was French. She's like 'Oh are you French too? No, I'm not lol. I'm very east coast Canada."
And some people just embrace it and make it work for them. "I mirror their words or phrase! I’m 30. I realized I start calling everyone sweetie cause my manager does & I work at coffee shop."