Citizenship

Congratulations to all the newly sworn-in Americans! I, too, could have become an American citizen this June. It would have allowed me to accept the Naval Academy’s offer of an appointment to prepare me as an officer of the U.S. Navy.

My father had passed his test/interview on June 5. As a minor child, my U.S. citizenship was riding on that of my father’s. There was a July 2 deadline set by the academy for me to meet the citizenship requirement. The INS had scheduled five swearing-in days between June 19-28.

A little compassion from the INS was all that I needed and prayed for. Regretfully, despite pleas from my father and our congressman’s office, our request to the INS to include my father’s name on the June list was denied. Instead of flying to Annapolis in this month, I will be staying home.

RAYMUNDO GONZALEZ

Downey