IRMO, S.C. — It’s a day families wait years for, and it brings them a step closer to achieving their American Dreams. Friday, a South Carolina federal judge granted 29 people their US citizenship and welcomed them home.
“You could never dream of living in America or getting citizenship in America. For me, it’s a dream come true,” Jens Wolf Zschoche from Germany said.
Mabel Almanzar, from the Dominican Republic says “This is an achievement. I think becoming a citizen is a dream that every immigrant that comes to this country has and to feel more apart of this country.”
A dream come true, it’s how newly naturalized citizens tell me it feels to become a citizen of the United States. Almanzar says she walked the stage for a better life for more than just herself.
“I feel extremely happy because besides being a part of this country, it’s also for my son. Now that I'm a citizen my son is one too, he's 14. It’s something that’s really important for my family and me,” she said.
People from nearly 20 countries such as Colombia, India, Germany and Thailand raised their right hand and took the oath of allegiance Friday morning at Irmo Elementary School.
“I lived in east Germany in 1989, the wall came down and then i moved to west Germany , my dad lived there but I wasn't allowed as a child to see him because he couldn’t cross the border so I stayed him with and then in 2007 I came over with a German company and I really liked it and this is where i decided to stay for good,” Zschoche said.
And while these ceremonies are normally in courtrooms, judges and lawyers wanted this to be a teachable moment for students
“How important it is that we have laws in our country so sort of, what better place to have these people who did it all the right way, worked so hard to become American citizens. What better place to honor them than in an elementary school where we're teaching these young kids, what it means to be an American, what it means to follow rules and so we thought this was a perfect place to blend those two things together,” Derek Shoemake with the John Belton O'Neal American Inn of Court, said.