Outstanding American by Choice is an award given to naturalized United States citizens "who have achieved [...] extraordinary things"[1] by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) agency of the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS).[2] It was established in January 2006 by Emilio T. Gonzalez , then the director of USCIS.[3] As of 2018, about 130 awards have been given.
2006
Marina Belotserkovsky, Soviet-born; Director of Russian Communications and Community Outreach at the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society .[4]
José Luis Betancourt, Mexico-born and raised in Texas; Rear-Admiral of the United States Navy .[4]
Guarione M. Diaz, Cuban-born; President and Chief Executive Officer of the Cuban American National Council.[4]
Carlos M. Gutierrez , Cuban-born; U.S. Secretary of Commerce.[4]
Zalmay Khalilzad , Afghan-born; United States Ambassador to Iraq .[4]
Renu Khator , Indian-born; Provost and Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs at the University of South Florida .[4]
Tom Lantos , Hungarian-born; member of the U.S. House of Representatives.[4]
Guillermo Linares , Dominican-born; Commissioner of the Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs for New York City.[4]
Caitriona Lyons, Irish-born; Refugee Program Coordinator for the State of Texas.[4]
Jose E. Martinez , Dominican-born; U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of Florida.[4]
Mel Martínez , Cuban-born; member of the U.S. Senate.[4]
Gepsie M. Metellus, Haitian-born; Executive Director of the Sant La Haitian Neighborhood Center.[4]
Clementine M. Msengi, Rwandan-born; Founder and Executive Director of the Bright Move Network.[4]
Anne M. O'Callaghan, Irish-born; executive director of the Welcoming Center for New Pennsylvanians .[4]
Eduardo J. Padrón , Cuban-born; President of Miami Dade College .[4]
Kiran C. Patel , Zambian-born; Chairman of the Patel Foundation for Global Understanding.[4]
Marion P. Primomo, German-born; Physician, Hospice and Palliative Medicine.[4]
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen , Cuban-born; member of the U.S. House of Representatives.[4]
John F. Timoney , Irish-born; Chief of Police of the Miami Police Department .[4]
Fang A. Wong , Chinese-born; Special Operations Specialist with L3 Communications at ILEX Systems.[4]
2007
USCIS Director Emilio T. Gonzalez with military recipients on September 24, 2007
Eduardo Aguirre , Cuban-born; United States Ambassador to the Kingdom of Spain and the Principality of Andorra.[5]
Rasul Alsalih, Iraqi-born; United States Air Force.[5]
Oluwasina Awolusi, Nigerian-born; United States Air Force.[5]
Cristina V. Beato, Cuban-born; Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services .[5]
Katja Bullock, German-born; Special Assistant to the President for Presidential Personnel in The White House.[5]
Josefina Carbonell , Cuban-born; Assistant Secretary for Aging at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services .[5]
Franklin Chang Diaz , Costa Rican-born; astronaut.[5]
Manuel A. Diaz , Cuban-born; Mayor of Miami .[5]
Manuel Dominguez, Cuban-born; United States Air Force.[5]
Ricardo Ernst, Venezuelan-born; professor at Georgetown University 's McDonough School of Business .[5]
Emilio Estefan , Cuban-born; musician, producer, entrepreneur.[5]
Gloria Estefan , Mexican-born; singer-songwriter.[5]
Luis Glaser, Austrian-born; Professor of Biology and Special Assistant to the President at the University of Miami .[5]
Vartan Gregorian , Iranian-born; President of the Carnegie Corporation of New York .[5]
Farooq Kathwari , Indian-born;[6] Chairman and CEO of Ethan Allen .[5]
M.J. Khan , Pakistani-born; Houston City Council Member.[5]
Alfonso Martinez-Fonts Jr. , Cuban-born; Assistant Secretary of the Private Sector Office at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security .[5]
Alejandro Gomez Monteverde , Mexican-born; director/screenwriter.[5]
Indra Nooyi , Indian-born; Chairman and chief executive officer of PepsiCo .[5]
Tze Ng, Hong Kong-born; entrepreneur.[5]
Miguel Orozco, Ecuadorian-born; community leader.[5]
Dina Powell , Egyptian-born; Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State .[5]
Anna Prager, Polish-born; civic leader.[5]
Mitzie A. Robinson, Jamaican-born; United States Coast Guard.[5]
Samuel G. Saldívar, Mexican-born; Professor emeritus at the United States Military Academy .[5]
John Shalikashvili , Polish-born; General in the United States Army.[5]
Peter W. Schramm , Hungarian-born; Executive Director of the John M. Ashbrook Center for Public Affairs and Professor of Political Science at Ashland University .[5]
Abida S. Shoyeb, Pakistani-born; Officer for the South Atlantic District Veterinary Command of the United States Army.[5]
Antonio Taguba , Filipino-born; Major-General in the United States Army .[5]
Van T. Thai, Vietnamese-born; United States Air Force.[5]
2008
Elaine Chao , Taiwanese-born; United States Secretary of Transportation .[7]
James S. C. Chao , Chinese-born; founder of the Foremost Group .[7]
Anh Duong , Vietnamese-born; Science Advisor to the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Information, Plans and Strategy at the Pentagon.[7]
John Fugh , Chinese-born; United States Army.[7]
Andy García , Cuban-born; actor.[7]
Abul Hussam , Bangladeshi-born; professor at George Mason University .[7]
Rosario Marin , Mexican-born; Treasurer of the United States.[7]
Elsa Murano , Cuban-born; President of Texas A&M University.[7]
Robert Olton, Barbadian-born; United States Army.
Charles Simic , Serbian-born; Poet Laureate of the United States.[7]
Albio Sires , Cuban-born; member of the U.S. House of Representatives.[7]
Ramel Turic, Bosnian-born; United States Army.
Duncan Wardle, British-born; Vice President Global Public Relations for Disney Parks.[7]
Elie Wiesel , Romanian-born; writer.[7]
Donald Zacherl, Canadian-born; United States Army.[7]
2009
Joseph Cao , Vietnamese-born; member of the U.S. House of Representatives.[8]
Subir Chowdhury , Bangladeshi-born; author of management books.[8]
Eartha Dengler, German-born; Founder of the Immigrant City Archives.[8]
Maria Hinojosa , Mexican-born; journalist and author.[8]
Peter C. Lemon , Canadian-born; United States Army.[8]
Eva A. Millona, Albanian-born; Executive Director of the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition.[8]
Virginia M. C. da Mota, Portuguese-born; educator.[8]
Eskinder Negash, Ethiopian-born; Director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.[8]
2010
Patrick Corvington, Haitian-born; CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service.[9]
Kawther Elmi, Ethiopian-born; Park Ranger for the National Park Service .[9]
Oscar Bautista Hilman, Filipino-born; United States Army.[9]
Ledum Ndaanee, Nigerian-born; U.S. Marine Corps.[9]
Stephan Ross , Polish-born; Founder of the New England Holocaust Memorial.[9]
Tibor Rubin , Hungarian-born; United States Army.[9]
Rangita de Silva de Alwis , born in Sri Lanka;[10] Director of the International Human Rights Policy at Wellesley College .[9]
Samuel So, born in Hong Kong; professor at Stanford University.[9]
2011
Madeleine K. Albright , Czech-born; former U.S. Secretary of State.[11]
Joseph A. Banco, Jr., Yugoslavian-born; Associate Chief of U.S. Border Patrol at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection .[11]
Omar Cruz, Dominican-born; Federal Emergency Management Agency.[11]
Arturo E. Howard, Colombian-born; U.S. Coast Guard.[11]
Betty Nguyen Phillips, Vietnamese-born; U.S. Secret Service.[11]
Alma Plancich, Croatian-born; Executive Director of the Ethnic Heritage Council.[11]
Nawar Shora, Syrian-born; Transportation Security Administration.[11]
Gerda Weissmann Klein , Polish-born; Founder of Citizenship Counts.[11]
Aster Zeleke, Ethiopian-born; U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.[11]
2012
Christopher Che; President and CEO of the Che International Group.[12]
Anni Chung, Hong Kong-born; President and Chief Executive Officer at Self Help for the Elderly.[12]
Ping Fu , Chinese-born; President and CEO of Geomagic.[12]
Khaled Hosseini , Afghan-born; diplomat.[12]
Michael Moritz , British-born; Partner at Sequoia Capital .[12]
Maria Otero , Bolivian-born; Under Secretary Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights.[12]
Shervin Pishevar Iranian-born; Managing Director of Menlo Ventures .[12]
Jan Vilček , Czech-born; academic.[12]
Vivek Wadhwa , Indian-born; Academic, researcher, writer and entrepreneur.
2013
Ferozan Alamshahi Akbari, Afghan-born; U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.[13]
Pearl B. Chang, Chinese-born; U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.[13]
John A. Herrera, Cuban-born; Senior Vice President for Latino Hispanic Affairs at the Self-Help Services Corporation.[13]
Rahul M. Jindal , Indian-born; surgeon.[13]
Olga B. Koper, Polish-born; Market Manager for the Battelle Memorial Institute .[13]
Ramon Melocarela, Dominican-born; U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.[13]
Anna Mongayt, Russian-born; Co-founder and Head of Operations at Upstart.[13]
Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa , Mexican-born; neurosurgeon.[13]
Amarpreet S. Sawhney, Indian-born; President and CEO of Ocular Therapeutix.[13]
Sivalingam Sivananthan , Sri Lankan-born; academic.[13]
Tsehaye Teferra, Ethiopian-born; Founder and President of the Ethiopian Community Development Council.[13]
2015
Maria Contreras-Sweet , Mexican-born; Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration.[15]
Mercy A. Diez, United States Army.[15]
Daniel Finn, Irish-born; Catholic priest.[15]
Larry La, Vietnamese-born; Principal of the Meiwah Restaurant Group.[15]
Mariano Rivera , Panamian-born; former baseball pitcher for the New York Yankees .[15]
Thalía , Mexican-born; singer-songwriter, actress.[15]
Alberto Vasallo, Jr., Cuban-born; Founder of El Mundo newspaper.[15]