Some Naturalized Citizens Already in the U.S. Military

Houston welcomes more than 1,300 new American citizens on Wednesday. They took the oath of United States citizenship at the M.O. Campbell Center auditorium in northeast Houston with U.S. District Judge David Hittner presiding.

Immigrants from 104 different countries all vowed to support and defend the U.S. Constitution, but some of them have already been defending our country by serving in the armed forces.

Carlos Briones, an immigrant from Mexico, served 4 years in the U.S. Marine Corps. Briones says he has been working toward citizenship for 15 years. The U.S. is the only country he has known. He says he does not think it is unusual at all to want to fight for a country before it is officially his.

"This country has given so much to non-U.S. citizens, why not give back and serve your country?" said Briones, holding his certificate of citizenship for the first time.

"Even if you're not a citizen, you live here. You need to fight for that."

Martin Aguero, also from Mexico, is in his seventh year with the U.S. Army Reserve.

"It's a great accomplishment to fight for this country, and now I'm able to relish in its entirety all the greatness that it is," said Aguero on Wednesday morning.

Aguero achieved citizenship in an unusually fast manner because he was already serving the military when he applied. Aguero said his process lasted just a few months.

All the new citizens were given voter registration cards and the vast majority of them were registering on the spot.