In a recent naturalization ceremony at the Carl B. Stokes Federal Courthouse in Cleveland, 62 people from 31 different countries were sworn in as U.S. citizens.
One of them was 65-year-old Florence Baseke, who immigrated to Wooster eight years ago from Africa.
As Judge J. Philip Calabrese asked the immigrants to stand and take the oath, Baseke stood and raised her hand when she noticed others around her doing so.
Baseke is deaf and mostly doesn't speak. With no American Sign Language interpreter at this ceremony, she had to rely on visual cues.
It was not the first time since her arrival that Baseke refused to allow a lack of services to slow her from becoming a citizen.
Her friend, Kathryn Hardinger, sat next to her and wrote down what the judge said on a sheet of paper.
“[The ceremony] was beautiful. It's just really frustrating that she didn't get to fully participate,” Hardinger said. “It kind of just feels like people are just like pointing her in a direction. And then, you know, just kind of like tossing her around. But, she's a citizen; That's all that matters.”
Hardinger is the mobility manager for Community Action Wayne/Medina. The nonprofit helped Baseke in her path to citizenship with transportation and other services, Hardinger said.
Baseke requested an interpreter for the ceremony from the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, she said, but was told no one was available.
Immigration officials suggested she could reschedule, but that wasn’t an option, Hardinger said.
“With everything going on with immigration, with the Trump administration, and also just the very vocal anti-immigration community, we were really nervous that it was going to be put on hold,” Hardinger said. “We were scared that the opportunity would be taken away from her.”
From Uganda to the United States
Baseke has worked tirelessly for the past eight years to obtain citizenship and put down roots in America, Hardinger said. She got a job and housing through Goodwill and works a second job at a grocery store, she said.
“Florence is, she’s kind of like the embodiment of the Statue of Liberty,” Hardinger said. “She’s been through some very serious things that most people never experience, and to overcome that, with all of the additional challenges she has, even just to make it to America is incredible.”
Baseke communicated with Ideastream by writing on a sheet of paper. She described growing up deaf in a poor area of Uganda.
“No deaf kids were heard of. They blamed Mom that she had a curse because I became deaf,” she wrote. “Going to school was a challenge. No sign language. But Mom stood firm and accepted me.”
A priest took Baseke to a school for deaf children, she wrote. She moved to Kenya for school just before Uganda became under the brutal dictatorship of Idi Amin in the 1970s, she wrote.
She got married, had children, and later got divorced, she wrote.
“From that, I [was] determined to live my life single with my children who are now grown up. They finished university. One failed high school examination and ran away,” Baseke wrote. “Now it came to me to pursue education of hearing people, with the hope of being accepted in hearing community despite being deaf.”
She came to the U.S., fleeing political unrest in Uganda. She sought better education and opportunities to support her family back home, she wrote.
Over the years, Baseke and Hardinger have become close friends, writing emails and letters back and forth.
Hardinger calls Baseke ‘Mama Flora.’
“And she calls me ‘daughter Kathryn.’ It’s so sweet,” Hardinger said.
Accommodations exist but aren’t always available
The ceremony wasn't the first time Baseke experienced obstacles as a result of being deaf while navigating the citizenship process, she wrote.
Baseke requested an interpreter for the interview portion of her test, but no one was available. Instead, she wrote out her answers to the interview on a whiteboard.
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services provides disability accommodations, including interpreters, to comply with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, said Peggy Gleason, a senior staff attorney with the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, a national organization specializing in immigrant rights and policies.
However, requests are left to local immigration offices to coordinate, Gleason said.
“There’s always staffing issues with accommodations,” she said. “Local offices have to come up with the resources. It takes time; maybe they’re understaffed.”
If there is no interpreter, interviewees are allowed to write down their answers, like Baseke did. They are also permitted to reschedule, Gleason said, but she does not recommend doing that.
“Lately, processing times have been pretty fast for naturalization, but we all expect that to change, and it will get much longer, which is what happened during the first Trump administration and probably will happen again,” Gleason said.
The Trump administration is focusing heavily on enforcement, which is expected to take resources away from other services, she said.
“And enforcement means longer interviews, more investigation and changing processes all the time,” Gleason said.
'Never enough' interpreters
Gleason has not heard of any large-scale concerns nationally about a lack of sign language interpreters for citizenship test interviews and oath ceremonies, she said.
In general, though, there is a shortage of American Sign Language Interpreters, said Levi King, communication services for the deaf operations manager at Greenleaf Family Center. Greenleaf offers support for deaf and hard-of-hearing communities in Northeast Ohio.
“There’s never enough,” King said. “It’s a very specified field, specifically sign language interpreters because they’re not the same as a speaking interpreter. It works differently; the language is completely different.”
Interpreters at events like naturalization ceremonies can help members of the deaf community feel more included, King said.
“Imagine yourself going to another country and sitting through that ceremony, and you don’t know what they’re saying. How would you feel?” King said. “But, if you had somebody using your own native tongue, wouldn’t you feel more included? It’s the same.”
“My journey is not yet over”
After the naturalization ceremony, Baseke hugged Hardinger. Although she does not speak much, her excitement was clear.
“My daughter, my sweet Kathryn,” Baseke said.
Baseke wrote that she is grateful to become a citizen.
“My journey is not yet over,” she wrote. “You see, there was no ASL interpreter for me.”
Baseke wants officials at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to know she wishes she’d had an interpreter.
“USCIS is to be reminded of all times to make sure deaf people have access with interpreter during their interviews and meeting ceremonies,” she wrote. “I say it because I am now a U.S. citizen.”
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services declined to comment for this story.
Now that she is a citizen, Baseke plans to obtain a passport to visit her family. She is also excited to vote, Hardinger said.
When asked about her hopes and dreams, Baseke wrote she wants to continue working and learning.
“My hope is to continue learning what I have missed so much due to poverty, wars, and special education, which was so little attained,” Baseke said. “I dream to be a well-educated woman who will be able to help others if I can, when I get success.”
