My Daughter's Citzenship And My Mixed Feelings

Resource:  Reflejos

By Marco Ortiz

The bitter cold felt this past January 29 wasn’t an obstacle for the 99 individuals who attended their naturalization ceremony in Chicago.

Among these new citizens was my daughter.

Seeing her standing there, waiting impatiently for her turn to receive her certificate of citizenship, I couldn't help recounting the long road she had to travel to reach that goal.

First, at the age of two and a half, she saw me leave Peru not knowing that, because of the bureaucratic immigration process, she would wait seven years to see me again.

I remember the many times she asked me on the phone with her innocent voice, “Dad, when are you coming back?”

If I traveled back to Peru then, I could have lost several years of preparation working through the system to establish my own legal residence. I had no option but to wait my turn in the long line of people waiting before me.

I tried to explain to her why I came to the U.S. I explained that at that time there was no work in Peru, that the economy was very bad and that the terrorist attacks were a constant threat, so I came to the U.S. to be able to bring the whole family later.

But at the end of my detailed explanations, she would repeat the same question, “Dad, when are you coming back?”

That was a question I couldn’t answer and one that put a lump in my throat. When I finally was able to return to Peru, and went to the U.S. Embassy in Lima to apply for residence for my children, they said I needed to get a DNA test to prove I was their father.

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