Campaign gets a crowd
By CRISTIAN SALAZAR
HERALD NEWS
PATERSON – For Juana Elena Martir, 22 years living in the U.S. was long enough to wait for the right to vote.
Martir, 63, took her first step Saturday toward becoming a naturalized U.S. citizen — and a voter.
She was joined by about 200 people, most of Latin American origin, who attended the 2006 Great American Citizenship Campaign, held at the Rossy Elsie bridal shop at 368 21st Ave.,where volunteers helped aspiring citizens through the naturalization process, including filling out Form N-400, the official federal application for U.S. citizenship.
Sponsored by Hispanos Unidos de New Jersey Inc., which has an office at the store, the help was free, though attendees still paid the application fee (about $400, according to organizers) and $20 for photographs required by the federal Citizenship and Immigration Services.
The aspiring citizens crowded the store. They sat on metal chairs in nearly a dozen rows at the back, among the wedding dresses and jewelry counters that sprawled around the shop. Those who couldn’t find seats waited patiently among the women’s shoes at the front.
Juvenal Romero, 76, listed several reasons why he wanted to become naturalized. “I like this country, I like its history, its people, its music,” he said in Spanish. “Because of these things, I want to be a citizen.”
A Peruvian-born Paterson resident, Romero said he has lived in the U.S. since 2000 and works at a packing facility.
“The most important thing about this country is that there is freedom,” he said, contrasting it with Peru, where he said freedom was “constrained.”
Karina Salgado, 19, was born in Acapulco, Mexico, but has lived in the U.S. since she was 3. She said one of the reasons she wants to become a citizen is to bring family members to visit.
She said she and her mother are the only ones of her family who live in the U.S. “It’s very lonely,” she said.
Ivan Garcia, 24, said he has lived here 11 years. Born in the Dominican Republic, he said in Spanish that as a citizen “you don’t run the risk of people looking at you like you’re not from here.”
“People recognize your value,” he added.
Elsa Mantilla, who runs the Rossy Elsie shop and Hispanos Unidos with her husband, Arturo, said by about 2 p.m. that 180 people had registered for assistance. She said the campaign would also continue this afternoon because of the demand.
