2,000 Earn Their (Stars and) Stripes : Citizenship: Carson naturalization is the largest of its kind ever held in the South Bay, INS officials say.

A man more comfortable with numbers than words, Mahmoud Elhaj found it difficult to express himself Wednesday as he fulfilled a long-held dream: obtaining U.S. citizenship.

Joining 2,000 other people from 89 countries, Elhaj took the oath of allegiance at the Carson Community Center, culminating a seven-year wait for citizenship.

A retired math professor from Lebanon, the 82-year-old Elhaj has a variety of ailments, and he uses a wheelchair. Still, he made the trip from his Orange County home to exchange his green alien registration card for a U.S. citizenship certificate.

“It’s something that I wanted,” Elhaj, accompanied by his son and his wife, said simply. Elhaj explained that he moved to the United States seven years ago to join his son. His wife also is seeking citizenship.

The ceremony in which Elhaj participated was one of two sponsored by the Immigration and Naturalization Service in Carson. The new citizens came from 89 countries--the Philippines, Mexico and Vietnam had the most--and their motivations and interests were as varied as their nationalities.

INS officials said the event was the largest of its kind ever held in the South Bay. It was held in an auditorium festooned with U.S. flags.

In welcoming speeches, city leaders and INS officials stressed the “American dream” and urged the group to participate in the voting process. Then the applicants raised their right hands and took the oath of allegiance.

Harry Pachon, executive director of the National Assn. of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials and himself the son of Colombian immigrants, served as guest speaker and extended a warm welcome to the new Americans.

“You have become Americans by choice instead of Americans by birth,” Pachon said. “You join a very fine tradition in this nation. This country was founded on the roots of immigrants. That immigrants could become citizens of this nation was an innovative and radical concept when this country was founded 200 years ago.”

Carson Mayor Michael Mitoma told the group that their votes are often critical in local elections, where margins of victory are sometimes slim.

“Every vote is important,” Mitoma said.

New citizen Verna Betti, 24, a native of the Philippines, has long debated politics with her stepfather, and the chance to vote on issues of importance is particularly important to her, she said.

“I bet my parents were crying,” Betti, a Los Angeles Valley College student, said after the ceremony.

Others, like Victor Jara, said they were drawn to the United States because of better opportunities for their families. “They have a better life here,” explained Jara, a former Peruvian citizen and now a supervisor for a medical firm. “I’m glad to be here.”

Yet another, 45-year-old Michael Wang, said he was born in mainland China and later became a citizen of Sweden, a country that “was good to me.”

But a desire for change, Whang said, led him to the United States.

“It’s a mixed feeling,” said Whang, a Los Angeles engineer. “You kind of say goodby to the old citizenship. And it’s kind of exciting to become a new citizen.”