Utah gains 202 Americans

Mohamed Elsanousi's journey to the United States started after he had spent nearly nine years as a political prisoner in war-torn Sudan. Friday, the former refugee's journey came full circle as he took the oath that made him a U.S. citizen.

"This is a great experience, a great chance for me," said Elsanousi, who came as a refugee to Orlando, Fla., in 2000, then later moved to Utah. "This is my new best day, as an American citizen."

Elsanousi, 47, of Salt Lake City was one of 202 new citizens naturalized Friday in a ceremony in the Salt Palace. The new citizens come from 53 countries, and 50 are former refugees.

Elsanousi, who fled Sudan for Lebanon in 1995 after his imprisonment, said he found a hostile environment there, too. He and others requesting asylum were imprisoned and were about to be deported but held strikes and petitioned the United Nations.

Elsanousi, who is now studying international relations at Salt Lake Community College, is eager to participate in the political system and to petition on behalf of siblings still in Sudan.

Mario Ortiz, director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Denver District, which includes Utah, Colorado and Wyoming, said each of the new citizens has a story.

"All the people in this room, all have a story," Ortiz said. "Tell it to your family and future generations."

Airman 1st Class Jessica Broome, 23, has served her country in the U.S. Air Force since 2002. Friday was the first day of her enlistment that she served as a citizen. Broome, originally from Germany, says now she'll be able to vote and to serve overseas.

"It is kind of scary," Broome said of the possibility of serving in Iraq. "It's what I signed up to do."

After the oath of citizenship was administered, the new citizens received their first greeting as Americans from Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.

"My fellow Americans, welcome," Huntsman said.

He encouraged the new citizens to get involved politically, educationally, economically and socially.

"I hope you go out and make the most of your citizenship," Huntsman said. "Promise me this, as you assimilate into American culture, as you embrace the American dream — don't forget your points of origin. . . . We are made stronger by new thinking, new diversity."

Ortiz also encouraged the new citizens to take advantage of their citizenship.

"You will walk out of here today with a power, a voice you didn't have when you walked in," he said of their new right to vote.

Ortiz said he spent five years working at the American Embassy in Singapore.

That experience, he said, "gave me the opportunity to be around different people, different languages, different cultures, different traditions. . . . I came back much more tolerant."