By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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ROCKFORD — On Sunday, Paula Ripkey grieved the eight-month anniversary of the killing of her brother in Mexico.
A day later she raised her hand for the oath to become a United States citizen, a decision she hopes will help protect other family members in the future.
Ripkey was among 78 people from 33 countries on Monday who became citizens during a special naturalization ceremony at the Nordlof Center in downtown.
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The ceremony was emotional for Ripkey, a longtime resident who was spurred into citizenship by the May 21 killing of her brother, Alfonso Roman. He was 37.
“I had to bring his family over to the U.S.,” said Ripkey, a native of Mexico who has lived here for 25 years. “They were able to come in through an asylum case. Right now I have them living with me in the house, and hopefully being a citizen I can do a little bit more for them.”
As a citizen, she can now sponsor family members on their own path to citizenship. She said she needed to get her sister-in-law and her two nephews out of Mexico for their safety.
“You always hear on the news about cartels going and killing people. I used to see that on the news all the time,” Ripkey said. “When it actually hit home and it happened … it’s a tragic story.”
After completing the oath, Ripkey waved a small American flag and beamed a smile in the direction of her husband and her 12-year-old son, both who are U.S. citizens. She said the process gave them both deeper appreciation of being born citizens.
She said she also hopes it will be a better life for family that joined her here from Mexico.
“It’s something that they can actually see and think that it’s really better than where they’re from,” she said. “If you listen to them and see why they’re actually here you’ll be able to know that this country is built for dreams, and anybody can take advantage.”
‘The only home that I’ve known’
People who seek citizenship through naturalization are examined by citizenship and immigration officers. They also must have been a permanent resident for at least three years if they’re married to a citizen and five if they are not. They then need to pass a history and civics test, among other steps.
For Ripkey, becoming a citizen was a means to improve the lives of her family. Sitting next to her during the ceremony was Jose Galarza, who had long waited for the day to be a citizen of the only country he had called home.
Galarza, 35, is a “dreamer” who was brought to the country by his parents when he was 2.
He lived here his entire life, getting a driver’s license and work permit under Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, commonly known as DACA. When the Trump administration rescinded DACA in September 2017, Galarza started to seek citizenship but learned he would be forced to return to Mexico.
He and his wife, Haley, who is the executive coordinator for Mayor Tom McNamara, started a blog shortly after DACA was rescinded called Love, Hope and Borders to document the difficulty of navigating the legal immigration system.
“Our immigration system is very difficult to navigate,” Galarza said. “Unless you have a lot of money, sometimes it’s impossible.”
Galarza went to live with his mother in Mexico in 2019 as he underwent an examination to obtain his visa. Haley had applied for him to receive his permanent residency through the IR1 visa process for spouses of citizens.
“Rockford has been my home my entire life. It’s the only home that I’ve known. So when I had to go to Mexico it was kind of culture shock for me,” he said Monday.
He received his visa and then had to be a permanent resident for three years before he could become a citizen. In December, he got notice that he would be part of Monday’s naturalization ceremony.
The couple’s blog was largely empty during those three years until a new post was made on Friday announcing Jose’s upcoming citizenship. It was simply titled, “home.”
“I’ve lived in this country my entire life and I’ve always heard that I didn’t belong,” Jose Galarza said. “To finally be able to belong somewhere that I’ve called home my entire life meant a lot.”
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McNamara, who spoke at Monday’s ceremony, said his work with Haley Galarza the past seven years at City Hall has given him a new appreciation for the process.
“I by no means understand what each and every one of you have gone through to get here today, but I can say that I have a better appreciation of the struggle and the true challenges that each of you have faced,” McNamara told the families gathered for the ceremony.
Jose and Haley Galarza have two daughters, 5-year-old Luisa Corazon and infant Ignacia Sol. Luisa created an American flag out of crayon and paper with a heart in the center for her father to hold during the ceremony.
Jose said he had to hold back tears on Monday as he took the oath. He said he had often felt unwelcome here, even thought it is his home, because of negativity surrounding immigrants.
“Immigrants get a bad rap. I feel like a lot of the stuff that you see on a regular basis is: they’re here to steal our jobs, rob us and do bad things,” said Galarza, an HVAC technician at Rock Valley College. “A lot of us just want to work. We want to do right by our family. We’re not here to do bad things. I feel like that message has to get across.”
This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on X at @KevinMHaas or Instagram @thekevinhaas and Threads @thekevinhaas