Elgin to celebrate new U.S. citizens

Addy Enriquez moved to the United States with her parents when she was 14. She was coming from Guatemala City and not at all pleased with the decision to move north.

Now 27, Enriquez is a U.S. citizen with no plans to return to Guatemala for anything more than a vacation.

Enriquez, of Addison, will be one 30 to 40 people honored in the New Citizen Recognition Ceremony that starts at 7 p.m. Wednesday during the Elgin City Council meeting at city hall, 150 Dexter Court.

Enriquez grew to love the United States once she had made friends and acclimated to the new environment.

“It was a different kind of life and I think I got used to it,” Enriquez said.

She went to Elgin Community College and later married in 2006. The marriage launched her path toward citizenship when she traded in her visa for a residency card. In January, Enriquez passed the citizenship test, finally finishing an expensive, time-consuming process.

But it is a process Enriquez said was worth it. Now she can vote for the people representing her and has rights she didn’t have before.

“I’m just so happy to be a U.S. citizen,” Enriquez said. “I’m not scared anymore and I feel like I can do anything I want. I have no limits.”

Enriquez works at Head Start in Carpentersville, helping low-income families find resources as a family worker. One of the resources she often recommends is Elgin-based Centro de Información, where she got the help she needed to become a citizen.

Centro de Información has helped organize the New Citizen Recognition Ceremony since its inception in 1999.

Jerry Turnquist, an Elgin historian and adoptive parent, thought the ceremony would be a good idea after his two adopted children became citizens in an obscure cubicle of a government building. He thought the occasion deserved more fanfare, and so did representatives from the YWCA, Elgin Community College, the American Legion and Centro de Información. The groups together formed the first New Citizen Recognition Committee.

“The idea of becoming a citizen, it’s daunting,” Turnquist said. “These people ought to be saluted and honored for what they do.”

The ceremony will last about 20 minutes at the start of the city council meeting. It will include a performance by Elgin Choral Union and be followed by a reception in the lobby. This year’s new citizens hail from Mexico, Guatemala, Argentina, Jamaica and Venezuela.