By GEORGIA PABST
Now no matter where he goes, Tsering Phuntsok will no longer be a man without a country.
Although he’s felt like an American for a long time, on Monday he officially became a citizen of the United States.
In a special naturalization ceremony in Milwaukee, Phuntsok raised his right hand, took the oath of citizenship, and pledged his allegiance to the flag that he will soon be called on to defend as a lance corporal in the Marines.
For Phuntsok, 22, and his father, Dorjee Lendey, 44, whose heritage is Tibetan, it was a proud moment and the end of a long and frustrating journey.
“It means a lot to finally get my citizenship,” said Phuntsok, who drove to the city with his dad from the family’s home in Madison. Phuntsok had just arrived home this weekend after completing basic training at Camp Pendleton, Calif.
He expects to be deployed soon to Iraq, where he will be on foot patrol. U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) helped arrange the swearing-in ceremony after helping the family untangle a series of immigration bureaucracy snafus that had kept Phuntsok from becoming a citizen.
“I’m glad it’s finally over,” Lendey said, breathing a sigh of relief. He’s spent the past two years trying to get citizenship for his son, only to encounter one roadblock after another. Finally, he said, he contacted Baldwin, who helped clear the way.
Baldwin thanked Phuntsok for his military service.
“Our thoughts will be with him and his unit in Iraq with hopes for their safe return,” she said in a statement.
The family’s American saga began when Lendey, a Tibetan who grew up in India, immigrated to the United States in 1992. At first he worked as a janitor in Chicago.
But when it came time to bring his wife and four children to the U.S. in 1997, he looked around for a city where he could get a better job and live in a better neighborhood with better schools so his children could get a good education and be safe. He settled in Madison.
In time, Lendey and most of the family became U.S. citizens. But not Tsering Phuntsok. At first it was a problem with his son’s fingerprints and then one thing or another, Lendey said. There were phone calls, trips to the immigration office in Milwaukee, and a sea of paperwork that never seemed to be just right until Baldwin’s intervention.
Phuntsok was 15 when he arrived in Madison. He went to Madison Memorial High School, where he played soccer and wrestled.
“He has a lot of energy and said he wanted to join the Marines,” said his dad. “I said, ‘No. Go to college for a year, and in one year if you still want to join, then it’s OK.’ ”
So for a year Phuntsok went to Madison Area Technical College, where he took liberal arts courses. Then he joined the Marine Reserves.
Although a person needs only a green card to join the armed services and fight for the United States, becoming a citizen means a lot to Phuntsok and his family.
“I am from Tibet, and we lost my country to the communist Chinese long before I was born,” Lendey said. “Becoming a citizen gives a sense of pride and belonging.
“It’s important to have a country to call your own. If something happens to him over there, God forbid, we don’t want him dying without a country.”
