For many years, Carlos and his daughter lived in Honduras while his wife lived in the U.S. With scarce employment opportunities in Honduras and extended family separation, Carlos applied for a visa and moved with his daughter to the United States. Since 1986, Carlos Garcia has worked for Arthur’s Construction. Enjoying the simple things in life, Carlos’ favorite part of his job is driving.
On October 16th, 1992, Carlos became a lawful permanent resident. Carlos hesitated to apply for his citizenship for many years despite his daughter’s constant urging. He was steadfast in his decision not to apply for his citizenship, but years later Carlos changed his mind. His daughter Karla suspects that “It was more out of fear with everything that’s going on with immigration and folks being deported. I think it was also that he was the only one in our family that wasn’t a US Citizen.”
Going through the citizenship process can be difficult and the language barrier is one of the major reasons why the process took so long for Carlos. Carlos only spoke Spanish and lacked adequate legal assistance before.
When he heard about the New American Workforce on the radio, Carlos became interested and decided to attend an information session. Karla, his daughter, states that once Carlos’ application was processed “He believed he had the best application because he never left the country, always had the same employer and had a small family. Nothing exciting and nothing to worry about!”
Carlos and his family are very grateful to “the New American Workforce, CARECEN and DC Mayor’s Office for their provided assistance and very positive experience.” Carlos just recently became a U.S. Citizen this year!