Welcome Fellow Americans

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U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Pamela Pepper welcomed 54 new U.S. citizens at a naturalization ceremony at the federal courthouse in Milwaukee on Wednesday, calling the administration of the oath of citizenship one of the favorite parts of her job.

“In my job, it is not unusual for people to come in very unhappy. And it is not unusual for them to leave unhappy. Sometimes one person; sometimes they all leave unhappy.”

But at naturalization ceremonies, the only tears are happy ones.

Pepper said, “This is the end of one journey for you — becoming an American; and the beginning of another — being an American. I hope that whatever brought you here, you start living that dream, and it is everything you had hoped for.”

Among the new citizens was Anabelly Jhazmin, who emigrated from Peru in 2004 on a fiance visa. “You have 90 days to get married,” she said, which she did, marrying her husband, Esteban deArteaga.

Although Peru is a stable country now, Jhazmin lived through more turbulent times when terrorist acts by the Shining Path and the Movimiento Revolucionario Tupac Amaro (MRTA) were common. On one occasion, Jhazmin was rocked by the bombing of a Peruvian courthouse less than a block away.

Today, she lives with her husband in Cudahy and works as a cashier at an Aldi grocery store. While she is none too pleased with Wisconsin’s weather, compared to Peru’s, she loves the natural beauty.

To the native of Lima, with a population of more than 8 million people in the metropolitan area, seeing wild deer and other native animals, and living with a view of Lake Michigan and Grant Park, is one of her favorite things about her new country.

Asked the first thing she intends to do as a new citizen, Jhazmin said, “Get a passport.”

Jhazmin and her husband are avid travelers, and even traveling is easier when you are an American citizen.

With only a Peruvian passport, international travel is difficult and a visa is required to go anywhere, she said, “But as an American, you just show your passport, and you can go anywhere. And everyone loves Americans, all over the world.”