CHRISTIANSBURG, Va – A Christiansburg man has spent the better part of the last year working toward becoming a United States citizen so he can vote in the upcoming November election.
Leonel Rosales, better known as Leo by his friends, fell in love with an American more than three decades ago.
“I am originally from Guatemala and I met my wife in Guatemala, she is originally from Michigan,” explained Rosales.
Rosales got his green card and after moving around a few times, decided to settle down in Christiansburg in 1999 and has been working at Duncan Honda ever since; however, he said there was always something missing.
“I’ve been in the car business for 33 years, but there was always something to pay and it was difficult to do the citizenship,” Rosales said.
Earlier this year, Leo decided he was finally going to go through the naturalization process to vote as an American citizen for the very first time in the November election.
“I want to vote, because how can I say anything if I’m not really voting for the person that I want. I want to be part of the decision making,” said Rosales.
He said the road to citizenship wasn’t always easy, especially in the middle of a pandemic.
“It took me like seven or eight months to do the process, and of course, it’s costly too,” Rosales said.
But after working, living and raising his family in the United States for nearly 30 years, Rosales wanted to give back to the country that has given so much to him.
And he is using his new sense of patriotism to encourage people to make their voices heard.
“I tell everybody they should go and vote, took a little time for me to have that privilege,” Rosales said.
Rosales is also expecting to be a first-time grandfather this fall.