How these new U.S. citizens see immigration reform

INDIANAPOLIS – The auditorium full of immigrants and their families at Indianapolis' Central Library on Tuesday was buzzing. Emma Lazarus' poem inscribed on the Statue of Liberty, "Give me your tired, your poor, huddled masses ..." flashed on a screen. Everyone, save for a crying baby in the top row, seemed happy.

Soon-to-be citizens stood up in groups — 11 from Nigeria, nine from Mexico, eight from India and so on — as applause from 350 spectators trickled out. When those nine people from Mexico stood up, cheers poured.

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Claudia Castro, who lives in Fishers, is a legal resident. She was watching her father, Mario Castro, gain citizenship after nearly 20 years in the U.S. The former farmer, who was granted amnesty in the 1990s, beamed with a pride his family had never seen before.

“After I saw this today, the ceremony and everything, it's more motivating for me,” Claudia said. “I want to become a citizen.”

Becoming a naturalized citizen is a long, costly process. Application fees run about $700, and there's a civics test. It's only proctored in English. Hopeful citizens must live in the country for five consecutive years before applying.

So for these people who have immigrated legally, what's happening at the border — where thousands of children are being separated from their parents — is hard to fully comprehend.

“It’s crazy," Claudia said. "Just crazy.”

The Trump Administration’s “zero-tolerance” policy calls for unauthorized immigrants who cross the border to face federal prosecution. That leaves their kids in the government’s hands. John Sandweg, the former head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) told Global News that for hundreds, the separation will likely be permanent.

"For where we're from, those stories hit close to home," said Jose Castaneda, Claudia's husband. Castaneda, now a naturalized citizen, is originally from Mexico. "We all know somebody, or we know somebody who knows somebody who went through that."

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In all, 94 people from 38 countries from the Philippines to Canada were naturalized in Indiana on Tuesday. They said the Pledge of Allegiance in unison and later took an oath to put this country before the one they once called home.

They cheered for a video of President Donald Trump welcoming them: "No matter where you come from, or what faith you practice, this country is now your country."

Jaqueline Soza, from Nicaragua, was so thrilled for her citizenship that she nearly ran out of the auditorium when the ceremony was finished.

"I was so excited, you know, I wanted to call my mom," she said, beaming. "(Mom) said, 'It's the Lord, you know.' She said, 'God is good, God is great.'"

Soza said she came to the U.S. in 2001, moving first to Miami. She later moved to Louisville, Kentucky, and then Jeffersonville, Indiana. She loves it there. It’s a good place to raise her 14-year-old son, away from the big cities she tired of.

Before coming to America, Soza applied for a work visa. Then she waited five years. Then came a green card, and another five years. She finally applied for naturalization about a year ago.

"This is a country of law, and you have to obey the law," Soza said of undocumented immigrants.

But she also called for greater empathy with those who are suffering. 

"There are some cases, where … some people are really struggling in their country," she said. "So, I think each case will be different. It's fair for every person to go before a judge and present their cases and go from there."

"Not everybody's good and not everybody's bad," she added. "We cannot generalize. We have to go deeper and see what's going on in each case."

Castaneda said once you gain citizenship, everything changes. Even small things people born and raised in the U.S. may take for granted, like traveling to and from the country, feels different.

“You show up at customs and you show the passport, it's like, 'Welcome home,'”  Castaneda said. “No questions asked.”

Without it, he added, the questions come every time, like clockwork: Where have you been? How long were you there? What do you do for a living?

Those are the kind of subtle changes the 94 citizens welcomed to the United States of America on Tuesday will welcome. Soza, for one, will go home to Jeffersonville, to her family, and breathe a sigh of relief.

"I just couldn't wait for this," she said. "I was anxious, nervous. ..."

She paused, smiled.

"I feel good. I feel very good."

You can find IndyStar’s Dakota Crawford on Twitter: @DakotaCrawford_.