For most U.S. citizens July 4 is the day to celebrate being an American, but for Claudia Davis of Columbia it just might be April 29. That’s when the Mexico native took the oath of allegiance in New Orleans along with 60 others from 40 countries.
Now that she is an official citizen, Davis says she is really excited.
“I want to get my GED and would love to further my education to help others learn English. I realize there are more opportunities now,” she said.
It’s been a long journey to reach this point. She was born and lived 20 years in Guadalajara in western Mexico before coming to the United States 16 years ago.
She said the poor people in this country live like the rich people in Mexico. Yet she went on to say that Mexicans were happy and had all they needed. The people tend to be healthier as most of the foods they eat are natural and not processed, she said. But it is modern in Mexico, too, with chains like Walmart and McDonald’s.
The biggest issue driving emigration is the Mexican government is full of corruption, she said. She said the drug cartels are a threat, but the danger is mostly along the borders.
She met her husband, Luke, at a Mexican restaurant in Petal where they both worked. She said when they first started dating he didn’t speak Spanish and she didn’t speak English.
“We would carry a dictionary and a pad of paper and look up the words to communicate,” she said.
Now they have been married going on 15 years in November and have four children: Kathlynn (13), Luke Jr. (11), Victoria (5) and Scarlett (2). Of her husband, she says, “He’s the best thing that ever happened to me.”
She said they came to Columbia because they wanted their children to get to know their paternal grandparents, the Rev. Randy Davis, pastor of the First Assembly of God in Columbia, and his wife, Tracy.
It took a year for Davis to get a green card. Then because she was married, she only had to wait three years to apply for a permanent green card versus five years if she had been single. Then there was a two-year wait to be interviewed.
For the interview she had to answer questions about the government, history and general things about the United States; she also had to read a short sentence in English and be able to write a short sentence in English. She said her husband made her flash cards to help learn everything she needed to know. The list contained a hundred potential questions.
The interview lasted 45 minutes. It began as a regular conversation. Of the 100 questions Davis had memorized, she knew she had to get six correct out of 10, not knowing which of the 100 questions she would be asked. She said when the interviewer started asking the questions, she was sitting there counting each one until she realized that she had answered all six correctly.
She then was given a tablet with three sentences and she had to read one in English. After reading the first sentence in English, she had to write the sentence in English. Once she was finished, the interviewer congratulated her telling her she passed. Within two weeks of the interview she was given the date and time for her swearing in ceremony.
In the waiting room for the interviews, she said some were studying in their native language instead of English. She said she felt like that was doing more harm than good because the interview would be in English and the reading and writing portion of the interview was to prove that one knew the language.
“It was so sad seeing people come out of the interviews not passing, their faces were full of tears,” she said.
All of her siblings now live in Louisiana, but her parents are still in Mexico. She is planning on flying down soon to visit with them and soon will be beginning the process of legally bringing her parents here.
Her family in Columbia says they are proud of her becoming a citizen.
“We are thrilled, thrilled, thrilled,” her mother-in-law, Tracy Davis, said. “We did a lot of praying, but we are very thrilled. I am beside myself, and I know our grandbabies are happy, too.”
Pictured Above: Claudia Davis of Columbia, left, holds her certificate of U.S. citizenship with an official from the Immigration Department on April 29 in New Orleans. | Submitted Photo
