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Ako Shwani took the long route on his path
to becoming a U.S. citizen
1.7.2006
BY JOE ELIAS
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CARLISLE,
Saturday, July 1, 2006, -- Ako Shwani took the long
route on his path to becoming a U.S. citizen.
He had to dodge the tanks of Saddam Hussein's Iraqi
Army, embark on lengthy plane trips and bus rides
and hop the islands of the Pacific Ocean before
settling in the midstate.
"It was literally a long, hard journey," said
Shwani, 24. "But I'm thrilled to be here and to be
an American citizen."
Shwani's experiences have left him with strong
opinions on the immigration debate.
"If you are not here legally, you shouldn't be
here," said Shwani, who now calls Lemoyne home.
"Citizenship is a privilege and I'm thankful for
it."
Shwani was one of 41 newly minted Americans to take
the oath of citizenship at Cumberland County's old
courthouse yesterday afternoon.
He was joined by up-to-then citizens of Brazil,
Bosnia-Herzogovina, Mexico, Yugoslavia, El Salvador,
the Dominican Republic, Egypt, India, China, the
United Kingdom and Vietnam, according to the U.S.
Department of Homeland Security.
Shwani's journey started in 1997, when Iraqi tanks
rolled into his native Kurdistan and began ordering
people out of the country, he said. He was 14.
Saddam's Army had seized records with the names of
Kurdish citizens employed by American companies.
Shwani's father, Jihad Shwani, was an employee for a
U.S. humanitarian organization. The Shwanis and
6,000 other families were given 24 hours to leave
the country.
"Not a lot of choices," Shwani said.
From Kurdistan, the Shwanis took a bus to
neighboring Turkey and eventually a plane to Guam,
in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, half a world
away.
"They emptied out a camp at a Navy base and we
stayed there," said Shwani, who learned English at
school on the island.
Shwani also spent time in Taiwan before coming to
the midstate.
Sneha Parikh started filling out forms on her road
to citizenship when she was 12 more than six years
ago in her native India.
"At the time I came here for an education," said
Parikh, a 2005 graduate of East Pennsboro High
School. "I didn't know I eventually would become a
citizen."
She started by filling out forms for a passport, a
green card and medical documentation. Later, her
father's family sponsored Parikh and her parents
Mohit Lalit and Madhubala for citizenship.
All three took the citizenship oath yesterday.
Parikh is a student at Penn State Harrisburg
majoring in business administration.
She said she believes immigration should be legal,
as long as it's for a legitimate purpose.
"If you are here getting an education or working,
you should be allowed to stay," she said. "You
shouldn't be here if you're just causing trouble."
Marcelina Carmen Perez's father brought her to
America in 1985 when she was 20.
"I like it here very much," Perez said. "I finally
decided to stay."
Perez has one grown daughter born in the Dominican
Republic and two teenage daughters born in this
country.
She said she preferred to keep her opinions on the
immigration debate to herself.
pennlive com
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