Today was a very big day in Los Angeles for many people either renouncing their citizenship or adding yet another one. There were a lot of people in the LA convention Center and there were a lot smiles, tears of joy, a lot of small flags being raised, a lot flashes going off, people selling special covers for the new certificate, and a lot of traffic. As if traffic is not an issue in LA!
More after the fold.
According to the reports, today was a record number of new citizens for a single day in Los Angeles. Among those 18000 new citizens was my 80-year-old grandmother. Yes, she passed the exam and today she went and raised her right hand and promised to be a loyal US citizen! Congrats abuelita! She did take the test in Spanish given that English is not her strongest language! ;-)
I decided to accompany my grandmother to the ceremony and I could not believe how many people were present! There were people from many countries! Some people were all decked out with their suits, dresses or their finest guayaberas - there were a lot of these. There were some people who had a lot of family members there accompanying them (I have to admit that my grandma must have been the one with the most ;-) I saw people walking around with their flag tacked in behind their ear, others were smiling as they were waving it, others were holding it proudly in one hand and their certificate in the other.
All the time I was there and saw so many people I kept thinking that it was 18 thousand new voters!!!! Damn, I have been spending too much time here on Daily Kos! ;-)
So Obama, you have one more Latina voter today - my grandma.
El Piolín was among the 18 thousand new citizens as well. He got a lot of attention from the Local Univision channel. I'm sure that he will push his 'radio-escucha' that they need to register to vote. Hopefully he will push them to the Obama side. It seems that both Obama and Kennedy had a good time visiting with him. He won't let the immigrants and their supporters forget the Obama and Kennedy walked with them.
I must admit that one of the most uncomfortable things from today besides being there for so long and being so hungry, was passing by a real-life standup of Mr. unpopular. He was also displayed on the big screen giving the welcome speech to the new citizens. The good thing is that he spoke very briefly. Outside on the lobby and on the sidewalk there were people registering the new citizens. I could not help but think that it was very courageous for those Republicans to be there and try to convince the new citizens that their party had something positive to offer them. I hope that these new citizens showed their disapproval of the current administration by opting to register with the Dems.