Texas Rangers shortstop Elvis Andrus is now an American citizen.
The two-time American League All-Star posted a picture of himself holding his citizenship certificate and an American flag on his Instagram account Friday.
He was sworn in Friday afternoon at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Offices in Irving, Texas.
“I think it was the right time for me to become a citizen especially with everything we are going through with immigration,” Andrus said to a local CBS affiliate.
Andrus was born in Maracay, Venezuela, and moved to the United States with his family in 2005, when he was 16. He joined the Rangers in 2009 and has become one of the franchise’s best players.
He decided to become an American citizen amid one of the worst economic and political crises in the world in Venezuela.
Andrus flew back to Irving late Thursday after the Rangers played the Oakland Athletics so he could take the U.S. citizenship exam Friday morning. He said he passed the test with ease, though his nerves were definitely acting up.
“I studied for the past week. I think I over-prepared myself. I was a little nervous, way more than playing baseball for sure,” Andrus said.
Andrus, the Rangers’ all-time leader in stolen bases, described seeing American pride as “something that gives me chills.”
“It’s amazing the way they remember things. The past, it never goes away,” Andrus said. “Every country should be that way.”
