Iraqi woman sworn in as US citizen at age 111
ASSOCIATED PRESS January 13, 2012 5:08PM
Warina Zaya Bashou, 111, recites the oath of allegiance administered by the Hon. David Lawson during her ceremony to become a United States citizen at her home in Sterling Heights, Mich., Friday, Jan. 13, 2012. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services spokeswoman Marilu Cabrera says Bashou was born in 1900 in Iraq and will be the second-oldest person on record to be naturalized. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
STERLING HEIGHTS, Mich. (AP) — An Iraqi native has become a U.S. citizen at age 111.
WWJ-AM reports that Warina Zaya Bashou took the oath of citizenship Friday at her Sterling Heights home, north of Detroit.
The radio station says Bashou was surrounded by about a dozen relatives and friends during the ceremony.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services spokeswoman Marilu Cabrera says Bashou was born in 1900 and is the second-oldest person on record to be naturalized.
Bashou credits her longevity to drinking green tea.
Bashou has been in the United States nine years. She said through an interpreter that becoming a citizen is something she wanted to do for her grandchildren and great-grandchildren to remember her by.
She turns 112 in July.
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