High-profile couple from Mexico become U.S. citizens
Mauricio Calvo and his wife, Yancy Villa-Calvo, came to Memphis from Mexico years ago. They had been eligible to apply for U.S. citizenship for awhile, but hadn’t gotten around to it.
Then Donald Trump won the 2016 presidential election. “We filed our application the next day,” Mauricio Calvo said.
The husband and wife said they had legal permanent residency status.
But they still feared deportation under Trump, who had famously called Mexicans drug dealers and rapists and promised an immigration crackdown.
They also wanted power to change the country for the better through votes and other civic action.
Villa-Calvo said she had admired the United States for years. “We realized that it’s more fragile than what we thought it was. So we needed to finalize the papers, making sure that we were part of making the change we wanted to see.”
On Thursday, the husband and wife were among roughly 300 immigrants from around the world who raised their hands and were sworn in as naturalized citizens in a University of Memphis ceremony attended by federal judges.
The couple are among the city’s best-known Hispanic residents. Villa-Calvo, 41, is a visual artist whose immigration-themed installation “Barrier Free” has been displayed at the Brooks Museum of Art and other venues.
Calvo, 42, leads advocacy group Latino Memphis, where he comes in contact with people ranging from unauthorized Mexican immigrants to the head of the Greater Memphis Chamber.
Each moved from Mexico City to Memphis in the 1990s to study at Christian Brothers University, where they met on campus. They married in 2001.
Social media reacted strongly to a photo of the couple with their citizenship certificates.
“Congratulations to Chamber Board member Mauricio Calvo of @LatinoMemphis!! We are so glad to have him in our city,” the chamber wrote on Twitter.
The RiverArtsFest wrote, “A true friend to the festival, Yancy has volunteered as one of our Artists at Work artists for many years now. Such an amazing artist and woman, and such wonderful news for she and her husband Mauricio.”
The couple’s high-profile status aside, their decision reflects a broader trend.
Citizenship applications are surging nationwide as immigrants seek to solidify their status in America in the face of a Trump government that has expressed hostility to illegal and legal immigration.
During the swearing-in ceremony Thursday, each of the immigrants went to a microphone and gave their name and country of origin.
One woman from Canada quipped, “I guess I can’t get deported anymore, huh?”
Villa-Calvo said even though she and her husband had permanent residency, or “green card” status, they still worried about separation from their three children, all U.S. citizens, ages 9, 11, and 13.
“Even if you’re a permanent resident, you don’t know for sure if you’re going to be here tomorrow,” said Villa-Calvo.
She said she feared her husband’s public advocacy role and her own increasingly political art could make them a target.
Deportation of green card holders is unusual, but not impossible. In Michigan, for instance, a Polishborn doctor and green card holder who had lived in the U.S. since he was 5 was placed into deportation proceedings in January based on misdemeanor convictions from the early 1990s.
He was later released on bond. A recent Supreme Court decision may give such immigrants additional protections.
And Calvo said he wished more immigrants had a shot at citizenship. Many adult immigrants in Memphis are unauthorized immigrants from Mexico and Central America.
Under current law, they typically have little or no chance of gaining legal status and citizenship. Meanwhile, deportations have increased dramatically after years of little enforcement.
At the ceremony, federal judges called for the new citizens to take part in civic duties such as voting and serving on juries.
Both the husband and wife said they’re taking this seriously.
Villa-Calvo said she’ll soon travel to Washington for a training session from the National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures to step up her political advocacy skills.
And Calvo said he’s thinking about running for office — maybe school board or city council.
He echoed something one of the judges said. “If you don’t vote, if you don’t run, if you’re not engaged, you have no right to complain about anything that is going on.”
Reach reporter Daniel Connolly at 529-5296, daniel.connolly@commercialappeal.com, or on Twitter at @danielconnolly.