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I came to the United States when I was 11 years old. I remember the day I first set foot on American soil as if it were yesterday: May 23, 1991. The oppressive humidity of a Washington D.C. summer made it even more memorable. Ethiopia is a warm country, but I had never experienced such a combination of swamp-like humidity and searing heat before. We stayed in Washington DC for about a month before we moved to Philadelphia where my family and I live now. I arrived in the United States partially by accident. My mother, sisters and I are political refugees who were granted asylum in the United States while Ethiopia was being torn apart by civil war. At first, our family fled to London to stay with a distant cousin of my father’s. During our stay in England, the government of Ethiopia collapsed completely and rebels seized control of the country. It was then that we were given the green light to travel to the United States. My mother, my older sister, and I arrived with the clothes on our backs and less than a thousand dollars. For the next several years, my family struggled in a new country with very little family and fewer resources. Accepting charity and tough circumstances can be a humbling experience. My mother worked as a housekeeper and a nanny to keep the family afloat, and thanks to Catholic family social services, we were able to stay at an affordable apartment at a convent near Philadelphia. I turned 12 that summer; my sister went to school in Bryn Mawr, and I was given the first of many life changing opportunities this country has given me. I was able to enter 7th grade at the Church Farm School, a boarding school for boys in Pennsylvania. Since its founding, the school has opened its doors to the families of boys who may not have otherwise been able to financially afford such a valuable opportunity. Six years later, thanks to need-based financial aid, I was able to attend one of the best research universities in the world – The University of Pennsylvania. During my time at Penn, another event changed my life: I became a citizen of the United States in March 2002. |
| Unsure what I wanted to do with my life after college, I ultimately decided to enlist for four years in the United States Army. When I arrived in this country, I remember feeling like an outsider and not equal to those who had been born here. I wanted to make a contribution and truly earn my citizenship in service to the United States, a country that has given me so much. I wanted to feel like I truly belonged to this great country and that I had truly earned my citizenship. I left for basic training at Fort Sill, Oklahoma on September 29, 2002. I graduated basic training as the Distinguished Honor Graduate, meaning I finished first in my class. Later, I would complete Advanced Initial Training (AIT) at Fort Gordon, Georgia where I was Distinguished Honor Graduate again before I went to Airborne School at Fort Benning, Georgia. A few years later, I would be the Honor Graduate of my Air Assault School class in Hawaii. I was first deployed to Kandahar, Afghanistan in April 2006, where I did telecommunications and security work at Kandahar Air Field. For my service, I was given my first Army Commendation medal. I returned to Hawaii briefly, before my second deployment, this time to Iraq. I was part of the advance team that went to COB Speicher in Tikrit where I served for the next 15 months providing voice, data, and satellite communications services for the multi-national forces in northern Iraq. For my service during those 15 months, the Army awarded me a bronze star and another Army Commendation Medal for outstanding service. My story is similar to that of thousands of other immigrants in the United States Armed Services. They love this country, the freedom it enjoys, and the unparalleled opportunity it represents. It has been my experience that immigrant service members are the most eager to prove how much they love this country with their service because they are keenly aware of how unique and special our country is. According to a report released this week by the Immigration Policy Center, there are over 114,000 immigrants currently serving, and over 10,000 were naturalized as U.S. citizens last year. Since September 11th, over 53,000 men and women in the armed services have become U.S. citizens. Yesterday, Senator Bob Menendez from New Jersey introduced a bill to provide immigration relief to the thousands of immigrants and their families serving overseas. Simply, the bill aims to keep the families of US service members together while they fight for our freedom. At the very least, service members have earned the right to be united with their closest family members on a permanent basis without fearing that they will face unfair and unexpected deportation. Former Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Colin Powell said earlier this year: I have seen it thousands of times in my military career: the young men and women who come to this country as immigrants and volunteer to serve in our Armed Forces, the children of immigrants who volunteer to serve in our Armed Forces. You will find no better or more loyal soldiers than these young men and women who may already be citizens who hope to do their service to become citizens. I can think of no better way on Veteran’s Day to honor these service members, who have put their lives on the line for our freedom, than to support this bill – the Adjustment of Status for Family members of the U.S. Armed Forces. |
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