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Every year, hundreds of thousands of immigrants become U.S. citizens. It can be a proud moment, but the process can be challenging, especially if the soon-to-be new American is unable to hear. A woman in Ohio overcame that obstacle. Anna Huntsman of Ideastream Public Media reports.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: All rise.
(SOUNDBITE OF GAVEL BANGING)
ANNA HUNTSMAN, BYLINE: On this day, it's standing room only at a naturalization ceremony in the federal courthouse in Cleveland.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Will the petitioners please stand?
HUNTSMAN: The immigrants waiting to be sworn in come from 31 different countries. One of them is 66-year-old Florence Baseke. She is deaf and mostly nonverbal, and with no American Sign Language interpreter at this ceremony, she must rely on visual cues and a friend, Kathryn Hardinger, who has come with her.
KATHRYN HARDINGER: She's kind of like the embodiment of the Statue of Liberty. She's been through some very serious things that most people never experience.
HUNTSMAN: Hardinger works for a nonprofit that helped Baseke in her path to citizenship with transportation and other services. She knows Baseke's story well and says she has overcome many hardships in her life. In addition to being deaf, Baseke faced domestic abuse and lived through the brutal regime of then-Uganda President Idi Amin in the 1970s. She immigrated to the U.S. 12 years ago.
HARDINGER: And to overcome that with all of the additional challenges she has, even just to make it to America, is incredible.
HUNTSMAN: Baseke is divorced. She has four adult children and came to America by herself. She rarely speaks and communicates mostly by writing on a sheet of paper. When asked about her life growing up deaf in Uganda, Hardinger reads Baseke's response out loud.
HARDINGER: No deaf kids were heard of. They blamed Mom, that she had a curse because I became deaf. Going to school was a challenge. No sign language. But Mom stood firm and accepted me.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Please raise your right hands.
HUNTSMAN: Baseke stands and raises her hand when she notices others around her doing so. Hardinger says Baseke requested an interpreter for the naturalization ceremony from immigration officials, but they told her no one was available. They suggested she reschedule, but Hardinger says that wasn't an option.
HARDINGER: With everything going on with immigration, with the Trump administration and also just the very vocal anti-immigration community, we were really nervous that it was going to be put on hold. We were scared that the opportunity would be taken away from her.
HUNTSMAN: That's not the first time there's been barriers. Baseke requested an interpreter for the interview portion of her citizenship test, but none were available.
PEGGY GLEASON: There's always staffing issues with accommodations.
HUNTSMAN: That's Peggy Gleason, a senior staff attorney with the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, an organization specializing in immigrant rights and policies.
GLEASON: Local offices have to come up with the resources. It takes time. Maybe they're understaffed.
HUNTSMAN: The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services declined to comment, saying the agency doesn't talk about specific cases. Instead, it offered instructions for how to request accommodations that can be found on its website. Levi King says he's not surprised by the problems Baseke has faced. He works for a nonprofit that provides communication services for the deaf. He says there aren't enough American Sign Language - or ASL - interpreters to fulfill all sorts of requests.
LEVI KING: Because they're not the same as a speaking interpreter. It works differently. The language is completely different.
HUNTSMAN: So, Gleason says, if there is no interpreter for the citizenship test, interviewees are allowed to write down their answers, which Baseke did. At the ceremony, immigration officials arranged for her to receive her certificate first and called out her name.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: Florence Baseke. Uganda.
(APPLAUSE)
HUNTSMAN: It was a joyful moment. Baseke smiled and hugged her friend, calling her my daughter, my sweet Kathryn.
FLORENCE BASEKE: My daughter, my sweet Kathryn.
HUNTSMAN: After receiving her certificate, Baseke wrote she is grateful but wants immigration officials to know she wishes she'd had an interpreter. And Hardinger read aloud the message Baseke wants everyone to hear.
HARDINGER: I say it because I am now a U.S. citizen.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Congratulations and welcome.
(APPLAUSE)
HUNTSMAN: For NPR News, I'm Anna Huntsman in Cleveland. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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