From Ecuador to East Haven to American Citizenship: Celebrating the Journey

When Leonardo Morales first came to America from Ecuador in 1998, he worked two jobs seven days a week and shared a three-bedroom apartment with seven other people.

Last year, Morales became a U.S. citizen. And on Tuesday, Flag Day, he led his fellow East Haven residents in a Pledge of Allegiance address during a rainy ceremony on the Town Green.

“We got this idea this year to have the 'Pledge of Allegiance' led by a new citizen of the country,” Mayor April Capone said to the small but patriotic crowd. “For those of us like myself who are lucky enough to be born here, sometimes we find it easy to forget that not everyone was, and the difficult paths that people take.”

Morales’ wife, Letizia Morales, prepared a biography of her husband which Capone read aloud to the Flag Day patrons.

“The United States means so many things to so many people,” it read. “In Leonardo’s case and to many other immigrants, it is the beacon of light and the land of the opportunity.”