thedrifter
12-13-06, 06:44 AM
New to US, and ready to play part
By Yvonne Abraham, Globe Staff | December 13, 2006
LOWELL -- Among the 934 immigrants who raised their right hands and promised to protect the United States against all enemies yesterday stood four men for whom that pledge may have seemed redundant.
Ariel Montas , born in the Dominican Republic, spent a year defending the United States in Iraq.
Rayon Everett , born in Jamaica and dressed in desert fatigues, expects to be deployed there in July.
Jose Rodrigues , born in Angola, and Jean Bernard , born in Haiti, each did two tours in Iraq.
"I joined up because it's my way to give back," said Montas, 25, who was a National Guardsman for seven years. "My parents, my whole family, came here in the hopes of a better life, and we found it."
Immigrants from 83 countries surrounded the four men, all of them packed into the Lowell Memorial to take their oath of allegiance to the United States. Some wore jeans and hoodies, others shiny dresses and hats. As Chief Judge Mark L. Wolf of the US District Court named each of the countries represented, immigrants from those nations stood.
Soon all 934 were standing. When Wolf declared them American citizens, they cheered and shook a sea of little American flags.
There were other reminders of the war in the grand, granite and marble hall.
Costa Rican immigrant Carlos Arredondo became a citizen too. In 2004 Arredondo set himself ablaze after learning that his 20-year-old son Alex had been killed in Najaf, Iraq . He has become a vocal critic of the war. When US Representative Martin Meehan recognized him from the podium, Arredondo, 46, held aloft a poster of his son, a lance corporal in the Marines who rowed boats on Jamaica Pond with his father and joined the Marines soon after graduating from high school in Canton.
"My American Dream," Arredondo had written over the oversized photograph of his son.
About 26,000 foreign-born members of the US military have become citizens since 2002, when President Bush signed an executive order expediting citizenship applications for servicemen and women.
Montas, 25, served north of Baghdad as a specialist with the 102d Field Artillery of the Massachusetts National Guard. He has been home for about a year. His family settled in Lawrence from the Dominican Republic 12 years ago.
"Everything we are, we owe to this country," said Montas, who now works as a school safety officer at Robert L. Frost Elementary School. Becoming a citizen was an easy decision, he said.
"My whole family is here, and we're not going anywhere," Montas said. "I want to have a say in what happens, and to do that we need to be able to vote, and you can't do that if you're not a citizen."
Though some immigrants join the military hoping to win citizenship quickly, neither Montas nor Everett said that stirred them to serve.
"I did construction before, but I didn't get fulfillment out of it," said Everett, a staff sergeant in the 719th Transportation Battalion, based in Boston. "This is what I love."
Everett, of Dorchester, left Jamaica for the United States in 1995, when he was 18. He hesitated when relatives asked him to join them here, because he had had his heart set on joining the army at home. He immigrated once he realized he could join the Army in America.
Now, he said, he is just like all of his comrades.
"Before I felt like I was just someone serving in the Army," he said. "But now I am a citizen, I can truly say I am an American soldier. It brought a lot of joy."
He looks forward to going to Iraq, describing it as his duty: "This is my small token that I can give to the country."
Arredondo said he wanted to become a citizen because "it is important to follow all the rules."
Protesting the war, he said, would now be easier, because he will have the protections of citizenship. Shortly after the ceremony, he began his first protest as a citizen, holding a sign outside the hall that read "Bring the Troops Home."
As he stood there, Everett walked up to him and shook his hand.
"That's him right there," Arredondo said, showing Everett the picture of his smooth-faced son. Arredondo thanked Everett for his service.
Everett told Arredondo he is grateful that the grieving father was not bitter.
"God bless you, God bless you," Arredondo said to Everett, pressing an envelope into his hand. Inside was a copy of the first letter Alex Arredondo sent home, in January 2003.
"I am not afraid of dying," the letter read. "I am more afraid of what will happen to all the ones that I love if something happens to me."
Yvonne Abraham can be reached at abraham@globe.com.
Ellie
By Yvonne Abraham, Globe Staff | December 13, 2006
LOWELL -- Among the 934 immigrants who raised their right hands and promised to protect the United States against all enemies yesterday stood four men for whom that pledge may have seemed redundant.
Ariel Montas , born in the Dominican Republic, spent a year defending the United States in Iraq.
Rayon Everett , born in Jamaica and dressed in desert fatigues, expects to be deployed there in July.
Jose Rodrigues , born in Angola, and Jean Bernard , born in Haiti, each did two tours in Iraq.
"I joined up because it's my way to give back," said Montas, 25, who was a National Guardsman for seven years. "My parents, my whole family, came here in the hopes of a better life, and we found it."
Immigrants from 83 countries surrounded the four men, all of them packed into the Lowell Memorial to take their oath of allegiance to the United States. Some wore jeans and hoodies, others shiny dresses and hats. As Chief Judge Mark L. Wolf of the US District Court named each of the countries represented, immigrants from those nations stood.
Soon all 934 were standing. When Wolf declared them American citizens, they cheered and shook a sea of little American flags.
There were other reminders of the war in the grand, granite and marble hall.
Costa Rican immigrant Carlos Arredondo became a citizen too. In 2004 Arredondo set himself ablaze after learning that his 20-year-old son Alex had been killed in Najaf, Iraq . He has become a vocal critic of the war. When US Representative Martin Meehan recognized him from the podium, Arredondo, 46, held aloft a poster of his son, a lance corporal in the Marines who rowed boats on Jamaica Pond with his father and joined the Marines soon after graduating from high school in Canton.
"My American Dream," Arredondo had written over the oversized photograph of his son.
About 26,000 foreign-born members of the US military have become citizens since 2002, when President Bush signed an executive order expediting citizenship applications for servicemen and women.
Montas, 25, served north of Baghdad as a specialist with the 102d Field Artillery of the Massachusetts National Guard. He has been home for about a year. His family settled in Lawrence from the Dominican Republic 12 years ago.
"Everything we are, we owe to this country," said Montas, who now works as a school safety officer at Robert L. Frost Elementary School. Becoming a citizen was an easy decision, he said.
"My whole family is here, and we're not going anywhere," Montas said. "I want to have a say in what happens, and to do that we need to be able to vote, and you can't do that if you're not a citizen."
Though some immigrants join the military hoping to win citizenship quickly, neither Montas nor Everett said that stirred them to serve.
"I did construction before, but I didn't get fulfillment out of it," said Everett, a staff sergeant in the 719th Transportation Battalion, based in Boston. "This is what I love."
Everett, of Dorchester, left Jamaica for the United States in 1995, when he was 18. He hesitated when relatives asked him to join them here, because he had had his heart set on joining the army at home. He immigrated once he realized he could join the Army in America.
Now, he said, he is just like all of his comrades.
"Before I felt like I was just someone serving in the Army," he said. "But now I am a citizen, I can truly say I am an American soldier. It brought a lot of joy."
He looks forward to going to Iraq, describing it as his duty: "This is my small token that I can give to the country."
Arredondo said he wanted to become a citizen because "it is important to follow all the rules."
Protesting the war, he said, would now be easier, because he will have the protections of citizenship. Shortly after the ceremony, he began his first protest as a citizen, holding a sign outside the hall that read "Bring the Troops Home."
As he stood there, Everett walked up to him and shook his hand.
"That's him right there," Arredondo said, showing Everett the picture of his smooth-faced son. Arredondo thanked Everett for his service.
Everett told Arredondo he is grateful that the grieving father was not bitter.
"God bless you, God bless you," Arredondo said to Everett, pressing an envelope into his hand. Inside was a copy of the first letter Alex Arredondo sent home, in January 2003.
"I am not afraid of dying," the letter read. "I am more afraid of what will happen to all the ones that I love if something happens to me."
Yvonne Abraham can be reached at abraham@globe.com.
Ellie