Naveet Tuli lives in Manteca. He says his family emigrated about a decade ago from India to avoid religious persecution.
"I always wanted to become a citizen ever since I've been living here," says Tuli. "Of course, I'm going to live here for the rest of my life."
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service holds a naturalization ceremony once a month. This month, it held an extra ceremony to honor 29 of its employees like Robert Velarde who are military veterans.
"Me personally, it feels good as a veteran that we're being recognized," says Velarde. "Because, I mean, I know we have that now, but the Vietnam Veterans back in the day they never got what we have today. I think it's good that we're now recognizing the sacrifices of the veterans."
About 1,000 immigrants living in California become citizens each month.
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