(WXYZ) — The American Dream has come true for the man who was once the face of the Iraqi deportation fight here in metro Detroit.
RELATED: Local Chaldean father wins deportation fight, on the path to citizenship
Sam Hamama was sworn in as a U.S. citizen Friday morning at the Department of Homeland Security immigration offices in Detroit.
Last January, after a 2 1/2 year legal battle, a judge ruled that Hamama can stay with his family in West Bloomfield.
“Let me tell you, it’s the best feeling in the world,” said Hamama at the time.
The 7 Investigators were the first to take you inside the lock-up facility where Hamama was being held back in 2017.
“Please, please give us a chance to stay as a whole family,” begged Hamama in 2017.
He was brought to the U.S. from Iraq by his parents at the age of 11. For three decades, he lived and worked with the constant fear of deportation.
In 1986, at the age of 23, Hamama made a mistake: He got into a road rage incident and pointed an unloaded gun at another driver.
He spent a year in prison, got out, and quickly turned his life around: Managing grocery stores, raising money for his Chaldean Catholic church and helping his community.
Friday morning, with his four children and wife watching, Hamama officially became a citizen.
He told 7 Action News earlier this year the thing he was most looking forward to was being able to vote.
