WASHINGTON (AP) - Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff spent Sunday in Iraq, where he participated in a ceremony for 178 foreign-born service members to become U.S. citizens.``I can't think of people who are more deserving of citizenship than those who are fighting to defend the country even before they are citizens,'' Chertoff said. ``They understand that freedoms don't come free and they are willing to make sacrifices even before they reap the benefits of citizenship.'' The ceremony took place at Camp Anaconda, some 50 miles north of Baghdad.
According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, nearly 40,000 troops are not American citizens. A July 2002 executive order made members of the Armed Forces immediately eligible to apply for citizenship. CIS said about 4,000 servicemembers have earned U.S. citizenship while serving abroad since 2004.