Woman becomes U.S. citizen at 103
A 103-year-old woman from Cambodia became the oldest, newest U.S. citizen when she took the oath of citizenship this week in Los Angeles.
Hong Inh, who emigrated six years ago, smiled and waved a small American flag as she joined 10,000 people taking the oath at the city’s Convention Center.
“I feel so happy,” she said in Cambodian — family members translated — after the ceremony Tuesday.
She has 30 grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Many live in the USA, and an 80-yearold daughter and 13-year-old great-granddaughter were among the proud relatives at the proceedings.
“I’m so happy today, so proud of my grandmother to be a citizen,” Siv Taing, one of her grandaughters, told KABC-TV.
Hong Inh uses a wheelchair. Aided by relatives, she was able to stand Tuesday for the oath and for The Star-Spangled Banner.
Hong Inh survived brutal years under dictator Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge, and Cambodia’s living standards improved little in the following decades. Coming to the USA connected her to three generations of family.
“It has always been her dream to become a citizen and come to America because after the war, she didn’t want to live in Cambodia because of the living conditions,” Hong Inh’s great-granddaughter Melissa Tea told NBC4-TV.
“She always wanted to come here because of the rights and she hears so many things about this place,” Tea said.
For the record, Hong Inh’s age is not a record. The oldest person to become a citizen was Manik Bokchalian, a Turkish immigrant who was 117 and living in Los Angeles when she took the oath two decades ago.