“I’m very happy now,” said Leanna, a native of Russia. “I can’t believe it happened.” (Leanna Regheta, fifth from left, is being sworn in.)
Regheta arrived in the United States in 2002 on a fiancée visa before she married her husband, Leonid. She and Leonid have served as project missionaries in Russia. That country has made it more difficult for evangelicals to minister in that country, however, so the couple currently lives in the Chicago suburb of Wheaton.
Regheta says she understands the value of American citizenship. “In Russia, the government did not care about people.”
She did not realize the opportunities for people in the United States until she moved here. “People in other countries don’t understand how much better it is here,” said Regheta, “After living here for two years, my eyes were opened.”
She was one of 141 people from 45 countries who became citizens in the ceremony at the U.S. Federal Courthouse.
