A long walk to citizenship - Nothing was going to stop him from taking the oath.

No doubt about it, Francisco Navarro-Robles says, it’ll be a cool story to tell the grandkids. How in late May 2008, he was on the way to getting his U.S. citizenship when he feared the traffic crawling into downtown Los Angeles would make him late for the ceremony at the Convention Center.

And how he told his friends he was getting out of the car and then walked the last mile or so on the shoulder of the 110 Freeway in intermittent rain that soaked the shirt, tie and shoes he’d worn just for the occasion.

But it’s a story that started 17 years ago when he crossed the U.S.-Mexico border and illegally entered the country. “People always talked about the United States, and I wanted to see if what people said was true,” he says. “I was worried. I was only 18, crossing the border with a friend. It was not a pleasant moment in my life.”"*

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