Lucio Delgado, a blind resident of Chicago, says he failed his U.S. citizenship test because he wasn’t provided braille.
The 23-year-old moved to the U.S. six years ago after leaving Mexico. He taught himself English by listening to the radio and studied hard for his citizenship test when he felt ready to go for it.
According to the government, CBS News reports, Delgado failed because he was “unable to read a sentence in the English language.”
Though Delgado is legally blind and uses a white cane to navigate his surroundings, without a doctor’s note he wasn’t able to waive the reading portion of the naturalization test.
Without health insurance, Delgado couldn’t afford the note.
“They still didn’t believe I was blind,” he told the broadcast station. “To receive such negative news, it shattered all of my dreams in one second.”
This isn’t the first time Delgado had tried for his citizenship, both times being denied proper accommodations.
Most days, the Pembroke Township resident tends to the animals at his family’s rural home but had greater hopes of getting an education and making something more of himself.
“Over here I was going to get the education I couldn’t get In Mexico,” he said. “I was going to be someone. I was going to make my family here and there proud.”
Before he was even in America, he was envisioning the moment he was granted citizenship by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
“I was already imagining how this celebration would be, how it would’ve been to walk out of the USCIS building with everyone in tow, celebrating that I was a proud and lawful citizen of the United States of America,” he continued.
Instead of giving up on his dream, he’s searching for an immigration lawyer to help his case.
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