At her naturalization ceremony, Blanca Inhof, a 49-year-old woman from West Lawn, Pa., could not hold back her tears.
“I have been waiting for this moment for 25 years. I always wanted to become a citizen, but … we couldn’t get the money together,” says Inhof, who works as a translator for her school district. “It’s been a bit of a struggle, but we are so grateful to be here,” she adds. “Indeed, we are in a free, free country — a beautiful country. It has brought so much happiness in my life.”
After her mother passed away 25-or-so years ago, Blanca came to the United States from Mexico on a 10-year visa. She considers it a “miracle” that she was able to immigrate legally in search of a new beginning, a better life. A couple of years after she arrived, she met her husband, David Inhof, and within months they married. He, along with their two children — a 20-year-old daughter studying in college to be an interior architect and a high-schooler son who wants to join the Marines — watched Blanca take the momentous final step to citizenship one February afternoon in Philadelphia. Continue reading.