At 105, Woman Becomes a U.S. Citizen

SAN FRANCISCO — It took more than 35 years and a measure denying state services to illegal immigrants for 105-year-old Wen Tei Yue to become a U.S. citizen.

Yue, who may be the oldest person ever naturalized in this country, was honored with a special presentation Tuesday at a ceremony for 1,500 new citizens.

In a setting replete with stars, stripes and poetic speeches about America’s cultural mosaic, the Chinese woman was given an American flag that will be flown over the nation’s Capitol and then returned to her.

It was the first time that a new citizen had been so honored, said Thomas Schiltgen, Immigration and Naturalization Service director in San Francisco. “Nobody could remember when we had someone older,” he said.

“I’m just proud to be a U.S. citizen,” the rosy-cheeked matriarch said through an interpreter.

Yue was born in China’s Canton province in 1889. She moved to San Francisco to join her husband and two sons--already citizens--in 1959.

For more than 35 years, Yue was satisfied with her status as a legal permanent resident. But public rage at immigrants that fueled the passage of Proposition 187 last year changed her mind.

“There’s a general climate of concern about what’s going to happen in the future,” said Yue’s grandson, Gary Yee, 49. “People are taking their citizenship more seriously.”