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Lourdes Cardenas: Journey across country has led to US citizenship

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By the time most of you read this, I will be a U.S. citizen as I am taking the citizenship oath this morning. Instead of covering the story as a reporter, I will be an active participant in today’s naturalization ceremony at the El Paso convention center. It has been a long, and sometimes harsh, road. The journey for me officially started eight years ago, when I came to the U.S. with an H1B visa to work as an editor for Al Día, a Spanish publication of The Dallas Morning News, which was launched in 2003 with the purpose of serving the growing Hispanic community in the city. Luckily, the company decided to sponsor me for permanent resident status, which allowed me to apply for U.S. citizenship after holding a green card for five years.

Military provides path to citizenship

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Pvt. Juan Benjamin Alcantar and his wife were living in Chicago when he decided to join the U.S. military. At the time, he was going to college and working in a warehouse. “It was hard to keep up on school and my duty as a husband,” said Alcantar, 25. “To me it [joining the military] is something that’s a great idea to do.”

It also helped him become a citizen.