As seen on www.njherald.com:

Sussex residents describe taking legal route to citizenship

By TOM HOWELL JR.
thowell@njherald.com

NEWTON — Luz Quintero was one of nine children in Cartago, Valle, Colombia, and the family funds ran dry in the middle of her college studies.
Her grandfather, Roberto, gave up his life savings so she could find a better life abroad.
Just 21 years old, she boarded planes to Mexico and then Newark to live with her cousin in Madison. It was September 1985, she did not know English and the not-so-equatorial winter was ahead.
"I was crying," she said. "I thought, 'Oh my God, where am I?'"
On July 29, 2002, Quintero took the oath of U.S. citizenship at a convention center in Miami.
"I still get chills," she said, pointing to her forearm. "It's one of the most beautiful days of my life."
Quintero, now 43 and living in Newton, is one of thousands of immigrants-turn-citizens who have come to the United States with a firm belief in the American dream. Almost 40,000 persons were naturalized in New Jersey in 2006, or 5.7 percent of the 702,589 in the United States.
In 2004, more than 30,000 persons became citizens in New Jersey, and about 537,000 nationwide.
On this Independence Day, immigration in America has taken center stage from coast to coast and in Washington, D.C.
Almost every night, newscasts sound off on immigration policy and border security. The issue is broad in scope — spanning economics, the law, homeland security, culture and race — and churns out stark opinions.
Just last week, a bill to create legal status for millions of immigrants and increase work permits, while also fortifying the borders, fizzled out in the U.S. Senate.
The issue of undocumented workers has raised some of the loudest voices, with some saying they siphon off jobs and others saying they drive the economy.
"This is not something new," said Charles "Shai" Goldstein, executive director of the New Jersey Immigration Policy Network.
Goldstein points to previous fears about immigration, namely the nativist Know Nothing movement against Irish Catholics in the 1850s and condescending attitudes toward Italian immigrants in the 1920s.
"Our country has never been destroyed by immigration," he said.
Foreign-born Sussex County residents and people close to the immigration process agree that the issue has reached a fevered pitch, especially with the limited number of visas for the large influx of immigrant workers compared to a few decades ago.
"The system is in chaos," said the Rev. Robert Griner of Christ Episcopal Church in Newton, founder and president of El Refugio, an outreach center for Latino families that opened in April 2006.
El Refugio provides assistance to those working on the American dream, whether it's filling out forms with a paralegal, finding transportation to immigration offices in Newark or teaching English as a second language, Director Lelia Gomez said.
The collapse of last week's Senate bill dashed some hopes in the Newton area, because it might have allowed more immigrants to secure work permits, Gomez said.
"We don't in any way support illegal activity, we don't support open borders," Griner said. "When you see someone who needs help, you help them."
First and foremost, immigrants must learn the language of the land, Quintero said. El Refugio's ESL class draws 25 students every Monday at 6 p.m.
"It's a really ugly stereotype that Latinos don't want to learn English," Griner said.
Once immigrants find the assistance they need, the road to residency and citizenship requires hard work.
Upon arrival, Quintero worked at a factory in West New York, NJ. She took the bus into Manhattan and backtracked into New Jersey in a shuttle van.
Then, she got a cleaning job at an Exxon in Madison, where they allowed her to study English for one hour each day.
She bought ham and cheese sandwiches by pointing to items at a local deli, but a homework assignment demanded sudden bravery. She had to order in English.
"When I did that, the (deli) guy said, "Ahh, I thought you were mute!" Quintero said, laughing.
Quintero continued to work on her passport and developed fluent English. She earned an employment authorization card in 1989 and a standard "green card" in 1991.
She moved to Florida for eight years, and her naturalization papers were lost in the bureaucratic netherworld after the move. A letter to her congressman resulted in the papers' reappearance, and Quintero was naturalized five years ago.
Applicants must take a written civics exam before they are sworn as American citizens. Sample questions range from "What are the colors of our flag?" to "Name the amendments that guarantee or address voting rights."
Alfredo Belador, 75 — a Filipino immigrant who died tragically in an accident last month in Franklin — loved U.S. history, and studied the federal government intensely before he became a citizen at age 73.
When he was home, he was "glued to C-SPAN," his daughter, Maxcelie Reed, said in a recent interview.
In a favorite story of his, Belador often recalled how U.S. paratroopers led by General Douglas MacArthur landed in his village during World War II and left their parachutes. The villagers took the parachutes as a keepsake of their American friends and turned the material into clothing, according to Reed.
Belador was not the only Sussex County resident who was inspired by Americans during the war.
Hardyston Deputy Mayor Leslie Hamilton grew up in a Scottish town named Greenoch, on the River Clyde. During the war, American sailors would dock and bring candy to the town's children.
Hamilton was about five years old, and the local children would ask a sailor, "Any gum, chum?"
"I said, 'When I'm big, I'm going to where the candy is," Hamilton chuckled. "It's just one of those things that sticks in your mind as a child."
She went to the passport office on her 21st birthday to fulfill her dream, arriving in America and "not knowing a soul." Still, she was in the greatest country in the world.
"It was a freer country," she said. "In Europe there was a class system — rich or poor. If you were born poor you stay poor."
She became a U.S. citizen in 1982, back when "it really wasn't a problem."
"It is much harder today. This is a different country than that of 30, 40 years ago," she said.
The dream of escaping old world problems and finding a safe haven in America is trickier now, as an immense influx of immigrants looks to settle here, Hamilton said.
She said immigration policy has been mishandled by top federal officials, who she believes are beholden to "special interests."
Today, Quintero works for El Refugio and has a part-time job at a local bank. She hopes to bring her mother and her father, a retired police officer, to America, and her desire to assist all newcomers has continued.
She can remember her journey before citizenship, such as when airport officials saw her Colombian passport and automatically searched her bag for drugs.
She feels a personal pain for immigrants who struggle to make it in their new home. Like everyone else, she said, all they want is a better life.
"I'd like people to see the immigrants with their heart," she said. "We love our families. We love each other. We love people."
Quintero lives with her eight-year-old daughter, Natalia, and they plan on watching Independence Day fireworks tonight. Because, she said, every Fourth of July is special.