http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/aldia/noticias/stories/DN-ciudadania_19dia.ART.State.Edition1.3e36fb9.html

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/060918/480/526fe9b625dd4a7fa9e4a7a80b921585

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DALLAS -- As two uniformed immigration officers gripped her arms to support her, 99-year-old Cristela Campos climbed the stage steps Monday and slowly trudged toward a waiting Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff to receive her citizenship certificate.

Campos, a native of Babahoyo, Ecuador, was among the 311 representing 63 countries who became new Americans as Chertoff led them in the oath of allegiance.

"For some of you, the path to that oath may have been long and difficult," Chertoff told the crowd. "But today the United States is your country."

Just weeks away from her 100th birthday, Campos received a bouquet of flowers from Chertoff and was singled out during the ceremony, one of several naturalization ceremonies being held around the country this week to commemorate Constitution Week.

As a young woman, Campos was a nanny for an American official in Ecuador. She has lived in the United States for more than 20 years, along with her family. Relatives say for many years she's wanted to become an U.S. citizen like them, but her health problems had prevented it.

On Monday, her son was present for the ceremony, along with three of her grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Following the ceremony, Campos sat in a wheelchair, raised her plastic glass of orange juice and said "Salud, salud a todos" in a toast.

Other new citizens waved American flags as they flocked to booths outside the ballroom with voter registration information. It was one of the new duties Chertoff urged them to do, along with serving their community and serving on juries.

Despite an ongoing debate on immigration, everyone must work to keep the United States a place that welcomes immigrants, he said.

"But one thing is ... beyond debate ... immigrants are the lifeblood of our country," Chertoff said.

More than 31 million people living in the United States were born abroad.

For years, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has faced a backlog of citizenship petitions and other immigration applications.

The Bush administration has set an Oct. 1 deadline for the backlog to be eliminated by the agency, which processes applications for citizenship, permanent residence, work permits and other immigration documents.

CIS officials said Friday they have come close to eliminating the backlog of naturalization applications.

The average processing time for naturalization applications dropped from 14 months in February 2004 to about five months now. However, officials admitted some cases still remain unresolved past the six month recommended standard.

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