29 new 'brothers and sisters in liberty'

A toddler's voice rang out across the courthouse atrium: "Mama!"

Alexandra Tannous, 2, was too little to grasp the significance of the moment, but she was excited to see her mother, Syrian-born Pilar Nabil Eid, stand up during a naturalization ceremony at the federal courthouse in Cape Girardeau.

Eid, who moved to the United States to be with her husband, Nicholas Tannous, was one of 29 people from 11 countries who became U.S. citizens Wednesday morning.

Immigrants hold small American flags during a naturalization ceremony Wednesday, May 1, at the Rush H. Limbaugh Sr. U.S. Courthouse in Cape Girardeau. U.S. District Court Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh Jr. administered the Oath of Allegiance to 29 people from 11 countries, making them U.S. citizens, during the ceremony. (Adam Vogler)

"I got married to a wonderful guy," Eid said after the ceremony, smiling at Tannous as their daughter clutched a small American flag in one hand and a purple lollipop in the other.

Both Eastern Orthodox, the couple -- who reside in Kennett, Mo., where Tannous works as a physician -- met at a church conference, Tannous said.

If the path to citizenship were a poker run, Van Thi Nguyen and Ty Nguyen would have won the prize for longest distance traveled, immigrating nearly 9,000 miles from Vietnam.

Seven of the new citizens came from India, more than 8,000 miles away; seven from Mexico; four from China; three from the Philippines; and one each from Guatemala, Germany, Hungary, Romania, Somalia and Syria.

Their stories were as diverse as their homelands.

Eid wasn't the only one who followed her heart to the United States.

Nicoleta Andreea Bollinger came from Romania to Jackson after meeting her husband as an exchange student in Spain.

She said people have gone out of their way to make her feel welcome.

"They never treated me like an immigrant, which made the transition a lot smoother; being away from home," Bollinger said.

For occupational therapist Emilda Lily Pinto of Poplar Bluff, Mo., coming to the United States from Mumbai, India, was a sacred mission.

"I prayed hard," she said. "I said, 'What do you want me to do? Where do you want me to go as a mission?'"

Pinto said her sister nudged her to take advantage of the need for occupational therapists in the United States.

"My sister said, 'You know, what is wrong with you? Why are you not taking this opportunity? It's the land of plenty,'" Pinto said.

She sent a resume.

"I was just going to be here for a year, [on a] year-and-a-half contract," Pinto said.

That was 1994. On a bright spring morning nearly two decades later, Pinto became an American citizen.

"I'm very proud to be here," she said.

U.S. District Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh Jr., who administered the oath of citizenship, said the ceremony was timed to coincide with Law Day, which the American Bar Association created in 1958 as a response to Russia's militaristic May Day demonstrations.

"Law Day was designed to celebrate the rule of law," Limbaugh said. "We have a government of laws rather than of men."

Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster spoke at the ceremony and said while foreign-born, naturalized citizens have made up 10 percent of the U.S. population for the past 150 years, first- or second-generation Americans have founded 40 percent of the country's Fortune 500 companies.

"You are the American dream," Koster told those in the group. "For 237 years, the United States has become the adopted home of the brightest minds and the hardest-working bodies in the world. ... Today, you become our brothers and sisters in liberty. Welcome to the American family."

epriddy@semissourian.com

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