Ryan Scarborough’s Remarks for Naturalization Ceremony in Judge Reyes’ Courtroom

As prepared – November 12, 2024

Good morning.? My name is Ryan Scarborough, and I’m a partner at W&C – the same law firm where Judge Reyes used to work.?

Judge Reyes is a superb lawyer and judge—not just because she is smart and skilled, but because she cares.? Many years ago, she started a program at our firm helping refugees and immigrants obtain asylum in the United States.?

It grew into one of the mainstays of W&C’s pro bono programs.? Pro bono is Latin phrase that means, “for the good,” and Judge Reyes definitely did good.

Our program offered real-world opportunities for our associates to practice law and advocate for clients.? And they changed the lives of their clients in the process.???

When President Biden nominated Judge Reyes to be a judge, she asked me if I would continue our firm’s pro bono asylum work that she had started years earlier.?

Of course I told her that I would.? It didn’t take long to realize, though, that I needed help.? So I wisely recruited two other male partners to help me.?

INSERT JOKE ABOUT IT TAKING THREE MEN TO DO ONE WOMAN’S JOB!

The lesson of this story:? Judge Reyes is a force.? Just like it takes 3 law clerks to keep up with her in chambers, it takes three W&C partners to fill her shoes supervising the asylum program!

Over the years, our firm has helped many refugees seek asylum, obtain legal permanent residency in the United States, and put them on a path to citizenship.?

We have helped individuals and families from around the globe – from Central America to Afghanistan, from Africa to Chechyna.? Some of them have been tortured.? Others jailed.? Too many have witnessed family members murdered, or been threatened with death themselves.

We have helped families separated at the border, children who arrived in this country without their parents, political prisoners who were jailed in their countries, and people who suffered terrible abuse by gangs and government actors in their country.?

Often the odds are stacked against our clients, but W&C lawyers have shown how committed and diligent lawyering can make a difference and change lives.

And when a judge grants them asylum, tears of relief, tears of joy often flow as an immense burden is lifted from their shoulders.??

Today, we have more than 30 different teams of lawyers working to help our refugee clients at all stages of the process. ?We are committed to continuing this important work for our clients and others like them.?

With that in mind, I want to tell you a story.? It’s an American story.? It’s a story about an immigrant family, and it explains why I do this important work.?

It’s about a young grandmother in another country who answered an advertisement to work as a housekeeper in California.

She didn’t have much education.

She didn’t have much money.

Her son was in his 20s, married with two young children.? He worked at a textile factory and had little prospects for success given his own lack of education.?

Willing to take a chance to improve her life, the grandmother traveled to the United States for this housekeeping job.?

She worked there for one year, before returning to her country with a life-changing message:? She told her family they needed to move to the United States.?

The entire family immigrated to California, unable to speak English and with virtually no money or education.? They left behind friends and family.? They knew nobody when they arrived.? They moved into a small, two-bedroom apartment that housed three generations—grandparents, their son and pregnant daughter-in-law, and two children under the age of 4.?

They found jobs but not great ones.? The son worked as a waiter during the day and as a gas station attendant at night.?

They saved enough money to buy a small breakfast shop called the House of Egg, where the whole family pitched in as hosts, waiters, cooks, and dishwashers.?

A few years later they sold the breakfast shop and bought a small, roadside motel.? You know – the kind of place where you park in front of your room, which goes for $25 a night and sometimes less by the hour, where bullet-proof glass separates the front desk from customers.?

In short, they built themselves up over time through hard work and perseverance.?

Not surprisingly, they were strict parents who prioritized academics.? Slumber parties were forbidden.? Non-academic activities were discounted.? The kids learned to live with their parents’ strict rules, but also managed to find uniquely American outlets.? They made friends, joined clubs, and got jobs as soon as they turned 16—or in the case of the oldest child at the age of 15, when she lied about her age on her application to Baskin Robbins only to be surprised a few months later when her boss wished happy birthday to a very confused girl who showed up to work!? When she explained it wasn’t her birthday, her boss noted that was the birthdate used on her application.? As smart as she was, she didn’t think to use the same month and day as her actual birthday.?

As happens when you grow up in the United States, all three children adapted to a new culture.? They still honored their parents’ culture, but with a twist.? For instance, after school, the oldest would walk over to a Buddhist shrine in the corner of the room where her parents had left offerings of fruit, choose an orange, and eat it – insisting that this was not sacrilegious because she was hungry.

In short, their story is an immigrant story two decades in the making.? With the exception of the youngest, who was born in the U.S., each of them was naturalized.? The oldest child was naturalized at a federal courthouse in Los Angeles during her senior year of college.?

This is her certificate of naturalization.? You’re going to get something like this soon.?

You can tell it’s the real deal for several reasons:

First, it says in red letters here that “It is punishable by U.S. law to copy, print or photograph this certificate.”? I hope that Judge Reyes will pardon me for texting a picture of this certificate to my children.?

Second, it lists the girl’s height as 5’, 3” – even though she insists to this day that she’s closer to 5’, 4”.

And third, it has a photo with what I will charitably call a “vintage” hairstyle that hasn’t yet come back in style.?

Five years after she was naturalized, she met a young man from Texas and brought him home to meet her family.? Even though he came from a different culture and background, her family welcomed him.?

In time they married and had two kids, a blend of two cultures—or as their daughter described herself, “Wasian.” ?Those kids brought even more joy and love into the family.?

Gone was the hardworking father who was so strict with his own children.? In his place emerged a grandfather who turned the car around to get chocolate milk for his grandchild, who snuck into their room to hold them because he couldn’t bear to let them “cry it out” in their cribs.?

You’ve probably figured out by now that this story is not about one of the families we helped at my law firm.? I’m talking about my wife, and her parents and grandparents, and our kids who are now grown.?

But it’s a story that applies equally to the families we have helped at W&C, and I’m willing to bet that it’s a story that will sound pretty familiar to you too.?

Immigration is deeply personal to me.? It shaped my life directly. ?I would not have met my wife, who is here today along with my mother, had her family not been permitted to immigrate to the U.S. when she was 4 years old.?

I marvel at how a single decision can change the trajectory of a family in a single generation.

I have seen firsthand how much hard work is required, and how a blend of cultures can produce something uniquely American. ?Her family is a living example of what it means to assimilate.?

And that’s the beautiful thing about this country.? We don’t look the same.? We don’t sound the same.? But we share a loyalty and love for this country, and each other.? Immigration and a path to citizenship provide important opportunities to change the trajectory of life.?

In a moment Judge Reyes will administer an oath and you will become citizens.? You will swear to uphold the Constitution of the United States of America, and in so doing you will undertake a civic duty.?

How you discharge that duty is up to you.? You will have the same rights as any other citizen, regardless of birth.

By your actions, I hope that you will make your community, your country a better place.? One of my college professors taught me that you don’t have to change the world.? Just commit yourself to making a small difference, because small gains yield big accomplishments.?

I trust that you will welcome others the same way that my wife’s family welcomed me, and the same way that I now welcome you.?

Welcome, and congratulations.?