LITTLETON, Maine — For years, Paula Dahlk dreamed of one day becoming a United States citizen.
Now her dream has finally turned into a reality. Dahlk obtained her U.S. citizenship on May 2 during a small ceremony in Presque Isle. Dahlk said she gets emotional when thinking about the fact that after all these years she is finally a full-fledged U.S. citizen.
“I finally feel like I am accepted,” she said. “This was not an easy process. It is costly, and there is lots of waiting. That is why it is so special when you finally get it.”
To become a legal citizen, Dahlk had to first get her fingerprints taken, which she did in Portland. She then had three months to study 100 questions for her naturalization exam. That test took place in Presque Isle on May 2.
Questions included, “How many Senators are there in the United States?” “What are the political parties in this country?” and “Who is in charge if both the President and Vice President are not able to be in office?”
Dahlk was born and raised in Diaz Ordaz, a small village in Mexico located two miles from the Texas border. Her mother, brother and sisters relocated to Arkansas, while Dahlk remained in Mexico to be raised by her grandparents.
She worked as a newspaper reporter in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, and first came to the United States at the age of 23. She decided to visit her mother in Arkansas, and quickly fell in love with this country and decided to stay with her family.
As fate would have it, Dahlk met a man, Stephen Dahlk, at a church function in Colorado. The two fell in love and eventually married in December 1999. The couple moved to Tennessee, where three of her four children were born.
Even though she married a U.S. citizen, Dahlk still had to file to become a citizen. Since that process involved a considerable amount of time and effort, Dahlk instead found it easier to apply for a permit every few years to be a legal resident, but not a full U.S. citizen.
As a legal resident, Dahlk said she had the right to get a driver’s license and work a job, but she was not able to vote. She said she also feared that she might one day be deported back to Mexico if her legal residency expired.
The couple came to Maine in 2005 thanks to a friend who mentioned there was construction work in the state. They found their way to Littleton, where they purchased a small piece of land and built their own home.
“We didn’t have any money, but we moved here and found our miracle property,” she explained. “Once we were here, sadly we didn’t find a lot of work right away, so I started doing pinatas.”
Dahlk created her own business “Mainely Pinatas” and now works as a counselor.
“Becoming an American citizen is a blessing,” she said. “I now have the right to vote and to serve on a jury. That is really something to me. It’s exciting that I now have a say.”
The couple has four children — Leif, 16; Meysha, 14; Elizabeth, 12; and David, 10.
