For the DFW Metroplex Immigrants Oral History Project. Colombian-born immigrant to Rockwall, Texas. Family background and the risks that accompanied being financially successful in Colombia during the Colombian civil war. Guerrilla violence in Colombia in the 1980s and 1990s; experience as an exchange student to Illinois in 1992; expectations about the U.S.; education and employment in food engineering; process of acquiring citizenship through political asylum; comments about travel, both domestic and abroad; learning English; opinions about U.S. immigration policy and cultural assimilation; reflections on American identity.