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447 Take Oath Of Citizenship

JIM REED / The Tampa Tribune

Sergey Shabunin from Russia, left, and Yusimi Sousa from Cuba take the oath of citizenship during a ceremony to swear in 470 new American citizens held at the Tampa Theatre Wednesday morning.

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By KAREN BRANCH-BRIOSO | The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 12, 2007

Photo Gallery From Today's Ceremony

TAMPA - Originally from 79 nations, 447 people converged on the Tampa Theatre this morning and traded their identities for a single new title: U.S. citizen.

Some took the oath of citizenship loudly.

Like Fahrudin and Edina Karic of St. Petersburg. The couple whooped it up on the front row with their son Karim, 12 and their youngest son, Kennan, 9, who is a citizen by birth. They were just a handful of the folks from Bosnia-Herzegovina who became U.S. citizens at the ceremony.

They made their presence so widely known that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Emilio Gonzalez suggested everyone follow the couple home afterward for a party.

Edina Karic, 38, said her next step – after the celebration – would be registering to vote.

"I'm so excited we can vote!" she said.

Both she and her husband want to vote for Democrat Hillary Clinton: "I liked Bill Clinton," said Fahrudin Karic, 40. "I like both of them."

Gonzalez came to town to administer the oath of citizenship 41 years after attending his own naturalization ceremony in a Tampa federal courthouse. The Cuba native was a 9-year-old at the time.

He told the participants they were lucky. In a year when citizenship applications have surged, theirs made it to the final step.

"You are doing what a lot of folks in the world want to do," Gonzalez said. "You want to become Americans."

Reporter Karen Branch-Brioso can be reached at (813) 259-7815 or at kbranch-brioso@tampatrib.com.

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