Activities held Saturday at the Lacey Senior Center were part of Citizenship Day, a multicity event organized to help permanent residents become citizens by offering them free legal and document-preparation services.
Citizenship Day was jointly organized by the American Immigration Lawyers Association, an immigration-rights organization called OneAmerica and a state program known as Washington New Americans. Similar events were held in Aberdeen, Tacoma and Mount Vernon, said OneAmerica’s Teresa Mozur, a communications assistant.
The next Citizenship Day is set for April 17 in Tukwila, Vancouver, Wenatchee and Yakima.
The event started at 10 a.m., and about 36 people had passed through the doors of the senior center by the time it was over, Mozur said. Among them were people from Ecuador, Kenya, Vietnam, Nigeria, Bangladesh and Mexico, she said.
Maria Teresa Rodriguez, 68, of Tumwater moved to this country from Mexico City five years ago to be closer to her family in South Sound. She brought her grandson, Alberto, 16, along for support Saturday. Rodriguez, a teacher when she lived in Mexico, also is teaching Spanish-speaking immigrants here how to read and write so they can qualify for their General Equivalency Diploma. This is her first time to apply for U.S. citizenship, she said.
The cost of hiring an attorney is a big reason permanent residents take advantage of the free legal services, but they also can ask questions in an environment that might be less intimidating, said longtime Olympia immigration attorney Lisa Seifert, a site coordinator for Saturday’s event.
Huerta, 47, said through volunteer interpreter Jair Juarez that he wants to become a citizen so he can finally bring his wife and three children to the U.S.
He worked as a cashier in a gasoline station for seven years, and today he works in construction, doing carpentry, roofing or siding, he said. Every year he goes home at Christmas to spend time with his family, but that has become more difficult in a slower economy, he said.
He didn’t go home last year, he said, his eyes welling up as he thought about his family.
“I’ve always loved the United States. I love the work, the people and the system,” he said, adding that there is too much corruption in Mexico. “There’s a tremendous amount of opportunity, and things are calmer here.”
Rolf Boone: 360-754-5403
