Keys to the city

During the Beatles tour, especially the American ones, members of the Beatles fan club would often present one or all of the Beatles with the "keys to the city." This obviously was just a publicity and photo opportunity thing and didn't mean anything. When John Lennon was going through his immigration problems, you sure never saw him take out one of the "Keys to the city" and use that as a case for why he should stay in the United States. Can't you just hear it? "But your honor, I own the keys of half of the cities in this country. Doesn't that give me the right to stay?"