Twenty years ago, I gave up my German citizenship and became an American.
I came to the United States in 1984 to travel with a music group and learn English in Bluefield, West Virginia. Due to a car accident, I was unable to return to Germany and ended up in Pasadena, California,
taking a class while waiting for my court case to be settled. While in Pasadena, I applied to change my
immigration status from visitor to student and began my studies.
In the Los Angeles area, I met Jim, who has now been my husband for almost 39 years. I continued my studies while Jim was working in China, and after a year we got married. That began my journey toward obtaining a green card. It was during the era of immigration amnesty, when the lines were long and the system was complicated. But we did it.
Then came 9/11. As the government reacted strongly to concerns about immigration and national
security, and often seemed unable to distinguish between legal and undocumented immigrants, we
decided it was time for me to become a U.S. citizen.
I studied hard and probably knew more about American history than many Americans did at the time.
When I took the citizenship test, there were only four questions and one sentence to write in English.
Just like that, I was in. This December marks 20 years since I became an American citizen.
I came to America because it was the land of opportunity. In Germany, as an eighth-grade dropout, I could never have attended university. My career options were limited, and honestly, I wanted to be as far away as possible from the place where I had experienced trauma.
I stayed in America because my husband and his family were here. I stayed because I was given opportunities to do many different things, including earning my master's degree. I stayed because of the promise of the Constitution.
Twenty years later, I am not sure those dreams still exist in quite the same way. Don't get me wrong-l support immigration reform, and I believe regulations are necessary. But my heart breaks for the many friends I have who still have no pathway to permanent residency or citizenship, and for the many people
who were promised a better life and continue to wait. I know someone who waited 19 years to be
allowed to enter this country after leaving a communist nation.
I came here hoping for a better future. We all hope for a better future for ourselves and our children.
Even 250 years ago, people came to this country in search of a better future. In that sense, they were
not so different from those who come today.
As we celebrate America's 250th anniversary, let us never forget why this country was founded, what it
stood for, and how so many of us came here from somewhere else in pursuit of a better future.
Let us make sure that the next 250 years continue to reflect that dream. As the Statue of Liberty pleads: "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, my lamp beside the golden door!"
I lift