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More Than 130 Broward Residents Celebrate Naturalization

More than 130 Broward County residents from 40 countries became U.S. citizens on Friday.
Sam Turken
/
WLRN
More than 130 Broward County residents from 40 countries became U.S. citizens on Friday.

With a wife and five children, Colin Jackman was the only member of his family who was not a U.S. citizen. Then on Friday that changed, 35 years after emigrating from Trinidad and Tobago. 

"It's a beautiful experience. It's another chapter of my life," he said of his naturalization. 

Rosana Devita, an immigrant from Venezuela, has lived in the U.S. for about nine years. She said gaining her American citizenship is meaningful given the political instability in her home country. 

"My Venezuelan background—super sad and horrible," she said. "But being an American citizen gives you that happy feeling that anything can work out." 

Jackman and Devita were among 133 Broward County residents from 40 different countries who became citizens on Friday. Recipients included moms from Jamaica and El Salvador, sons from Brazil and Ireland and daughters from Russia and Colombia.

Some said they became citizens to create more opportunities for their families. Others had been waiting more than 30 years for their citizenship.

For Sandraletta Waugh-Hutchinson, the experience has been challenging. The public school teacher emigrated from Jamaica seven years ago. She wanted her children to have more opportunities. But the move wound up interfering with her career.

“I used to teach back home in Jamaica. And I had to come here, start over from scratch,” she said, noting that at one point she had to stop teaching altogether.

Irina Tomashevich of Hallandale Beach attended the citizenship ceremony with her husband and 16-month-old daughter. She said she left her home country of Russia to seek better job opportunities.

“It’s really hard to achieve something in Russia right now,” she said. “We travelled there a few times, and we realized that it’s getting worse and worse.”

Tomashevich, who works in the boat charter industry, said she’s now ready to register to vote. She also wants to fulfill a promise she made as she sought her citizenship.

“We’re going to go to the most expensive restaurant to celebrate,” she said, laughing. “We’re probably going to do it today.”

Copyright 2019 WLRN 91.3 FM

After living in North Carolina the past four years, Miami native Sam Turken is back in the city he’s always called home.