
Marine posthumously made U.S. citizen
NEW YORK — A Marine who died in Iraq before becoming an American citizen was posthumously given citizenship in a ceremony at his family’s home.
Staff Sgt. Riayan Tejeda, of the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, was killed April 11 during combat in Baghdad.
Tejeda, 26, immigrated from the Dominican Republic as a child and grew up in the Manhattan neighborhood of Washington Heights.
Tejeda, who had been based at Camp Pendleton, Calif., served eight years in the Marines before he died and was the father of two daughters, ages 3 and 6.
Steven Farquharson, acting regional director of the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services, presented a certificate of citizenship to Tejeda’s parents in a brief...