Juan Velasquez couldn't help by smile.

He was sitting on a bench inside a fifth-floor courtroom at the Berks County Courthouse, a small American flag held in his right hand, a proud grin stretched across his face.

Just a few moments before he had raised that right hand as he repeated his oath of allegiance to the United States, officially making the 27-year-old a citizen Wednesday afternoon.

The moment was a decade in the making, and it was one that Velasquez cherished.

"It's going to feel like I'm doing something in life, that I'm not wasting time now," he said.

Velasquez was one of 38 people from 10 countries to become the newest citizens of the U.S. during a naturalization ceremony organized by the Berks County Bar Association and presided over by Berks County Judge Eric Taylor.

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