Maria Ines Chacon couldn’t stop smiling as she held a certificate of U.S. citizenship with her name on it and waved a tiny American flag.
The moment felt good, said the Elgin woman, who joined 30 other newly sworn-in Americans at Elgin’s 26th annual New Citizen Recognition Ceremony Tuesday night at the Edward Schock Centre of Elgin.
Her path to becoming a naturalized citizen started five years ago, in part because, “I wanted to get out into the light,” Chacon said. As an undocumented immigrant, she had a lot of fear about being forced to leave her adopted country, she said.
“This is such a joy,” Chacon said.
The ceremony was not about receiving a certificate but “about recognizing the journey that brought you here,” said Amairani Jarvis, a community organizer for Centro de Información and one of the speakers at the event.
“You all know the struggles you had to overcome to get to this moment,” said Jarvis, herself a naturalized citizen who once attended the same event as a participant. “It all started with a decision. A decision to leave behind what was familiar and come to America in search of opportunity, safety and a better future,”
There were moments when the future felt uncertain and the path ahead wasn’t clear, she said. “Yet you kept moving forward. Holding onto hope even when it felt out of reach,” she said.
“Now comes the most important question. What now?” Jarvis said.
Citizenship comes with benefits, Jarvis said. The biggest one is being able to vote, she said.
“At a time when immigration continues to be the topic of our nation’s conversation and many immigrant families face uncertainty, your voice and participation matter more than ever,” she said.
Tuesday’s ceremony included comments and video messages from elected officials, including U.S Sen. Dick Durbin and U.S. Rep. Bill Foster, whose wife is a naturalized citizen. America’s “story is still being written by people from every background who choose to call this country home,” Foster said in his video.
Keynote speaker Hector Gutierrez, a lieutenant with the Elgin Police Department, told the new citizens to recall what life was like when they first arrived.
“I remember the first day I came to the U.S. I was about 14 years old. It was a cold December day,” said Gutierrez, who later became a naturalized citizen and is the first person in his family to serve in the U.S. military and to graduate from college.
His father had rented a two-bedroom house in the Prospect/Summit streets area. He and other family members had to sleep on the couch or floor, but he was just glad to have a place to sleep, he said.
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“It was a culture shock. Everything was new to me,” said Gutierrez, who didn’t know any English at the time.
One day, he and his sister decided to explore the neighborhood. He spotted a big “M” sign.
“McDonald’s,” Gutierrez said. “It was the first fancy restaurant I went to.”
His sister wanted to order a chicken sandwich, but didn’t know how to say the word in English, he said. She went to the cashier and said cluck, cluck while motioning her hands like a chicken, Gutierrez said, to laughter.
“They understood and gave us some chicken sandwiches,” he said.
The memories of the sacrifices his father made for the family are poignant, he said. He remembered his father’s words: Family first. Give it your best. Stay focused. Get to work. Never forget where you came from, he said, speaking in Spanish.
“Every one of us has someone who loved us, believed in us, supported us, encouraged us or sacrificed for us along the way,” Gutierrez said. “Never forget the sacrifices that helped bring you here. Be proud of what you accomplished here.”
His words brought tears to the eyes of Dolores Garcia, one of the 30 people who walked across the stage to get a certificate and shake hands with elected officials.
Garcia came to America about the same time as Gutierrez, whom he got to know through St. Joseph Catholic Church.
“It just brought back memories of how hard our parents worked to give us the life we have,” Garcia said, noting that his parents said the same thing to him as Gutierrez’s father told his children.
While Garcia embraces his heritage, he is proud to become an American, he said.
“It’s a dream come true,” he said.
Gloria Casas is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.