Yassin Terou has achieved his dream: He is officially a citizen of the United States of America.
The owner of Yassin's Falafel House in Knoxville celebrated Tuesday, announcing on his Facebook page the special news with a picture of him outside the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services offices with his certificate of citizenship.
"You can call me a US citizen now. Is always been my honour to be part of the American community but today is special because I’m going to continue the dream and the work as citizen of the land of the American dream," he said. "Thank to all of you who support me during my journey and thanks to my Attorney Hammad Sheikh for helping me with my application, I appreciate all your love and support ,Looking forward to do more celebration and hard working to continue buildings our country."
Yassin said the Knoxville community welcomed him with open arms when he came to the city as a refugee of the Syrian conflict in 2011. As a business owner, he said one of his focuses has been providing the same opportunity he's seen for people in the community -- from other refugees to the homeless.
"New citizens is like a newborn hope for your life, and you feel like this is the country that's been love, support and now you are legally belong to this country. Before you've been like connect it was connected with all the love and support but you don't have nothing to say that you are from the country that you love but now you have a paper in hand," Yassin said.