Growing up in Arkansas, foreign-born Spc. Hilario Gonzalez De La Hoya and Pvt. Paula Del Carmen Jaimes-Gonzalez of the Arkansas National Guard said Friday that they’ve always felt like this is their home - the same as if they were natural-born citizens.
Inside the state Capitol in Little Rock during the Arkansas National Guard’sfifth annual Citizenship Recognition Ceremony on Friday, they and four other foreign-born guardsmen were honored not only for their commitment to serve in the U.S. military as immigrants, but also for becoming U.S. citizens.
All six completed the naturalization process within the past 10 months through a program offered by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The program allows those of foreign birth who enlist in the military to obtain citizenship through an expedited process that also waives hundreds of dollars in fees.
Recognized were: Mexico native De La Hoya of Fayetteville, El Salvador native Jaimes-Gonzalez of Fort Smith, Mexico native Spc. Carlos Arroyo Alvarado of Lowell, Russia native Pfc. Kirill Pavlovich Maslakov of Pine Bluff, Trinidad and Tobago native Pfc. Nigel Anthony Otero of Fort Smith, and Mexico native Pfc. Erick Pantoja-Alcantar of Fort Smith.
De La Hoya, 30, who joined the National Guard in July 2007 and has signed on for another six years, moved to the United States at age 8.
“I’m glad to be a citizen,” De La Hoya said. “I’ve grown up here, spent about my whole life here. Now I feel like I’m permanent. I don’t even know much about Mexico.
“Being a citizen means you can vote,” he said. “That’s something I’ve always wanted to do. … I want to try to vote in as many things as I can. Every vote counts.”
Jaimes-Gonzalez, 19, became a U.S. citizen in January. She said U.S. citizenship “kind of feels normal,” since she’s lived and gone through school in Fort Smith since she was “6 or 7.”
“I’ve pretty much lived here most all of my life,” said Jaimes-Gonzalez, whograduated from Fort Smith Northside High School last year. “The only thing that changes now is I get to vote. It is important.
“It lets me take advantage of opportunities here,” she added of obtaining U.S. citizenship. “It’s something I feel like should be done. … This is an opportunity you can take [in the military]. It saves you paperwork and money. Being in the Army National Guard gave me the opportunity to do it.”
Jaimes-Gonzalez was able to complete the naturalization process soon after she joined the National Guard, taking the final test near the end of her eight-week basic training.
“It was pretty quick,” she said of the process, adding that the citizenship test “wasn’t hard at all,” especially because she had been out of high school for such a short time.
“It’s U.S. history and government pretty much,” she said of the test. “All through elementary school and middle school and high school,they pretty much teach you the same things, the basics. That’s pretty much what the test is all about.”
De La Hoya said the program wasn’t available when he went through basic training in 2007, and he learned of the opportunity only last year.
He expects that earning his citizenship will help him in his military career.
“I want to further my military career, and you must be a citizen to be an officer,” said De La Hoya, who achieved citizenship in August. “If more knew the military helped them do this, I think a lot more people would join and make it a career. I was scared at first, but I ended up loving it.”
There have been 31 Arkansas Army National Guard and two Air National Guard members who have achieved citizenship during the program’s five years, said Pablo Moncho, diversity marketing coordinator with the Arkansas National Guard.
De La Hoya credited Moncho with guiding him through the paperwork to achieve his citizenship. Outside of the military program, it takes years and several hundred dollars in fees for immigrants to achieve citizenship.
“We encourage all of our noncitizens who join the Guard to do this,” Moncho said. “It is not mandatory, but we do strongly encourage it. It is in their best interest to further advance their military careers.”
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 9 on 09/28/2013