“I Was Born an American”

Early this morning, I went to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office for my naturalization interview. The first few test questions, such as where the U.S. capital is, what the name of the national anthem is, and when national elections are held, were all elementary-school level. I answered them without blinking.

The first “tricky” question was:

Jennifer outside the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services building at the New York State Capitol.

Have you ever joined any communist or totalitarian organization?

Yes, I had—but I withdrew after being persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party for practicing Falun Gong. I explained that my statement quitting the Party had been publicly posted online as early as 2004 and can still be found today. After that explanation, I passed this “hurdle.”

The second “tricky” question was:

Have you ever been arrested, detained, or deprived of your freedom anywhere, for any reason?

I had to explain to the officer that yes, I had been detained and sent to a forced labor camp, but that was religious persecution by the CCP. My detention followed no legal procedure whatsoever. “Re-education through labor” was a so-called “administrative punishment,” so illegal that the CCP later abolished it themselves.

The officer then asked how I got out. I described in detail the so-called “transformation” process in the labor camps, days and nights without sleep, electric shocks, and other forms of torture. They forced Falun Gong practitioners to denounce their belief in “Truthfulness, Compassion, and Tolerance” .

I also told him that I had written an autobiography about my life experiences.

In short, most of the interview was spent recounting my persecution.

At the end, the officer asked what I do now. I said I run my own media channel, focusing on China affairs and exposing the CCP’s various evils. To my surprise, he even asked for the name of my channel and wrote it into my file.

Finally, he showed me his interview notes and asked me to sign to confirm that everything was truthful.

Just like that, I passed the interview. He immediately scheduled my naturalization ceremony for later this month.

And just like that, another major milestone in my life was completed.

I fled China in 2001.

In 2003, I was granted refugee status in Australia.

In 2006, I became an Australian citizen.

In 2011, I came to the United States on a media visa.

In 2019, I received an Extraordinary Ability green card.

Today, I passed my U.S. citizenship interview.

It has been twenty years since I became an Australian citizen.

Jennifer inside the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services building at the New York State Capitol.

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To be honest, when I first escaped China and arrived in Australia, I felt like Australia was “heaven.” I could practice my faith freely, and everyone I met was so kind.

When I first came to the United States, aside from the faster pace of life and more intense work compared to Australia, everything else seemed similar. I buried myself in work every day. American politics, including presidential elections, were merely topics I reported on. I felt they had little to do with me. It seemed to make little difference which party won.

So in those early years, I never even considered applying for U.S. status. I already had an Australian passport and could travel freely. Why would I need American status? It didn’t seem necessary.

But in 2016, when my media visa expired, and I had to return to Australia to reapply, it suddenly struck me: having to leave every five years just to renew a visa was really too much trouble.

That was when the idea of applying for a U.S. green card emerged—and I did obtain it.

When the green card arrived in 2019, I thought: permanent residence in the U.S. is good enough.

But after 2020, I suddenly realized with a jolt that the “eternal” freedom I had once taken for granted in America, the rock-solid constitutional system of separation of powers, and her status as the “shining city on a hill,” were actually in grave danger. This country has been deeply infiltrated and hollowed out by the CCP. American society itself has become seriously ill. If we do not stand up to defend her freedom, then the last “city of hope” in this world will soon disappear.

At that point, I could no longer remain just a green-card holder, an outsider, a bystander. I wanted to become a full member of this nation so that I could better defend the country I deeply love—the country that has given freedom and dreams to countless people.

So the moment I became eligible, I submitted my naturalization application. And today, I finally passed the citizenship interview.

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Before the interview, I heard that the test questions had changed after 2025, so I found the new questions and studied them seriously.

During the process, I researched the history of the U.S. national anthem and listened to different versions of it over and over again.

I must say, it is a song that makes one’s blood boil—a true battle anthem. It openly declares war on any enemy that dares to trample this land, and it unequivocally pledges that the men and women of this soil are willing to fight for freedom to their very last drop of blood.

The line that moved me the most is:

 “And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave

 O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.”

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On my way home after the interview, the national anthem kept echoing in my mind. Suddenly, I realized:

In fact, I was born an American.

Jennifer inside the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services building at the New York State Capitol.

2/5/2026