New Mexico Mercury

“I came across the border when I was seven years old,” says Rosario Rodriguez or “Chalio” as we know him, “and I knew that eventually this was where I wanted to live.”

That was sixty years ago. Now it’s Friday, December 20, 2013 and we’re in a huge meeting room in the Convention Center in Albuquerque. In addition to hundreds of friends and family members, there are one hundred and sixty four people from 44 countries who are waiting for their oath of US citizenship. Chalio is one of them.

Born in Santa Maria del Oro, a small town near Parral, one of Santa Fe’s sister cities, he and his family moved to Juárez when he was very young. He only finished the third grade and soon was working instead. Back then it was much easier to cross the border and his family all had “pasaportes locales” which were mainly used to come across and shop. Nonetheless, he lived in Juárez for thirty years, working for companies like Coca Cola and Cruz Blanca, a beer that eventually went out of business.

Finally in 1977, he came to the United States on a full-time basis and worked as the leader of a cement crew, traveling around the West with a team of five men.  El Paso, Denver, Colorado Springs, Albuquerque, Midland, Texas and Oklahoma. He came to Santa Fe twenty years ago and went to work at a condominium complex named Los Miradores twelve years ago, managing all the landscaping.

He manages this property as if it were his own, with a dedication and thoroughness that would be almost impossible to replace. “I feel like it’s my family here,” he says.  Ione Williams, the manager agrees. “Everyone is so grateful for his work. We’re so proud he is now a citizen.”

The process of qualifying for citizenship was not an easy one, especially with his third grade education and limited English. It took him three years but he persevered.

The ceremony itself was presided over by U. S. Magistrate Lorenzo F. Garcia and he managed a well-organized ceremony that stressed the importance of this moment. He went through the 44 countries that were represented (Mexico had the largest number as would be expected) and asked the applicants from each country to stand. That was special, the idea that so many people from so many very different would choose to live here. There was also a color guard of young women from the West Mesa High School JROTC, a men’s chorale called the New MexiChords, and a keynote speaker named Henry Narvaez, a prominent Albuquerque attorney whose father immigrated from Mexico in 1911.

After his speech, each applicant went up to receive his or her papers as well as congratulations from the various dignitaries. The emotion in the room from the new citizens, their families and friends was electric.

Now Chalio has now realized his dream of becoming a citizen. The process has also been a great benefit to us.  That an individual with his integrity, skills and work ethic would choose to make the effort to become a citizen and so fully commit himself to the United States is a powerful statement. We need more people like him; we need an immigration system that is fair, efficient and focused on allowing talented and hard-working people like him to enrich our society and our workforce. Bit by bit, we may be able to make that happen but it obviously won’t be easy. In the meantime, however, it’s an honor to welcome Chalio as a new American.