Getting a driver’s license, landing your first job, buying a car and eventually a home are rites of passage that many in the United States take for granted.
Those milestones take on a different meaning and are much more difficult to achieve if you are not born a U.S. citizen, even if America has been your home since you can remember.
That was the plight of Jose Galarza, 35, of Rockford. His path to U.S. citizenship was long and tedious but finally ended Monday when he participated a naturalization ceremony at the Rockford Public Library’s Nordlof Center.
“I’ve been looking forward to this moment,” Galarza said. “It means a lot to be here with my family.”
Galarza was among 78 immigrants from 33 different countries who recited after U.S. District Court Judge Margaret Schneider the Oath of Allegiance to the United States of America and then the Pledge of Allegiance as their final steps to becoming U.S. citizens.
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