Outstanding Americans by Choice
The Outstanding Americans by Choice initiative recognizes the outstanding achievements of naturalized U.S. citizens. Through civic participation, professional achievement, and responsible citizenship, recipients of this honor have demonstrated their commitment to this country and to the common civic values that unite us as Americans.
USCIS will recognize naturalized citizens who have made significant contributions to both their community and their adopted country on a case-by-case basis.
For more information about the initiative, please see this fact sheet (PDF, 149.91 KB).
Note: The following biographies have been provided by the ABC recipients.
2009
Maria Hinojosa is the Senior Correspondent for the Emmy® Award-winning broadcast news magazine NOW on PBS. Ms. Hinojosa is also the anchor and managing editor of NPR's Latino USA, and the anchor of her own Emmy® Award-winning talk show One on One with Maria Hinojosa.
Eskinder Negash is the Director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), within the Administration for Children and Families at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. ORR provides people in need, including refugees, asylees, Cuban/Haitian entrants, victims of human trafficking, unaccompanied alien children, and survivors of torture with critical resources to assist them in becoming integrated members of American society.
Virginia M. C. da Mota, born in the Azores – a Portuguese Archipelago, was an educator in the United States for more than 32 years before retiring in 1997. She began her career teaching in a classroom and finished her career as the Director of the Office of Integrated Social Services at the Rhode Island Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
Eva A. Millona is the Executive Director at the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition (MIRA). She has been with the organization since July 1999. Ms. Millona focuses on providing analyses of federal and state legislation on immigration and naturalization issues, and also on reviewing and analyzing policy changes that affect immigrant communities eligible for immigration benefits.
Eartha Dengler is the Founder of the Immigrant City Archives in Lawrence, MA. Mrs. Dengler was born near Hamburg, Germany and lived through World War II in extreme hardship and deprivation. She and her husband left Germany for the United States in 1951 with their four-year old daughter. Mrs. Dengler and her family eventually settled in Lawrence where she started the Immigrant City Archives in 1979 with a limited budget and a few dedicated volunteers.
Born in Canada, Peter C. Lemon received the Medal of Honor for his actions during the Vietnam War. Sgt. Lemon is one of the youngest surviving recipients and only living Canadian-born recipient.
Subir Chowdhury was born in Chittagong, Bangladesh in 1967. He left his family in 1991 to come to the United States and eventually settled in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. Dr. Chowdhury became a naturalized citizen in 2004. He is the author of 12 books on business quality management, including international bestsellers, The Power of Six Sigma, Design For Six Sigma, and Management 21C.
U.S. Representative Anh “Joseph” Cao joined the 111th Congress on January 6, 2009 representing the 2nd district of Louisiana. He was born in Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City), Vietnam. His father, an officer with the South Vietnamese Army, was imprisoned by the Communists. At the age of eight, Joseph escaped to the United States with two of his siblings. He learned English, thrived in school, and earned a degree in physics from Baylor University.
2008
Professor Abul Hussam was awarded the 2007 Grainger Challenge Prize Gold Award from the National Academy of Engineering for his SONO filter, a household water treatment system that removes arsenic from contaminated groundwater. This was the highest prize given to an individual by the National Academy of Engineering which comprises a citation, a gold medal, and one million dollars.
Staff Sergeant (SSG) Ramel Turic's commitment to the United States was marked by his entry into the military service. He has been deployed several times; twice to Iraq in support of Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom, and twice to the Korean peninsula. SSG Turic has received numerous military awards and decorations and is also a recipient of the prestigious Saint Barbara’s Award. In February 2006, after serving the people of the United States for nearly six years, SSG Turic became a United States citizen.