Now she can prove she's a U.S. citizen

BRADENTON - With a nudge from Congressman Vern Buchanan's office, someone in the federal government finally found Angelika Viespoli's green card, issued in 1952.

And now she can prove what she knew all along: That she is a U.S. citizen.

Viespoli, 61, was born in Germany and the name of her father, a U.S. Army corporal, was not included on the birth certificate.

She was 3 years old when her parents moved to the United States, and her German mother became a citizen, which should have made Angelika a citizen.

But after decades of voting in U.S. elections, raising three children here and owning property, she discovered last October that she was not a citizen after all.

She was an illegal immigrant.

For the past year, Viespoli has dug up old documents, and contacted lawyers and her congressman to set the record straight.

She thought she was getting nowhere. She told her story to the Herald-Tribune, and it appeared in the Oct 5 edition of the newspaper.

Then she got a call from the federal government, went to Tampa on Tuesday and was given both a brand-new certificate of citizenship and her old green card.

"It was wherever they keep it," she said in an interview Thursday with SNN News 6 reporter Bruce Asbury. "Apparently there was some kind of mix-up."

She thanked Buchanan's office for helping.

"They made my holidays," Viespoli said. "I'm a happy camper."