Immigrant of the Day: Sona Babai (Iran)

Sona Babai (born 1901 in Gharabagh, West Azerbaijan, Iran) is an immigrant from Iran who became an U.S. citizen on October 25, 2006, at the age of 105. Born in 1901 in a small village, Sona married and had 10 children.  The family eventually moved to in Tehran until her husband’s death at age 103 in 1991. Sona Babai immigrated to the United States in 2000 and currently lives with her sons in Palm Desert, California. When asked what she was going to do as a naturalized U.S. citizen, she replied: “I’m an American. I’m going to vote.”

Sona Babai was the fourth oldest person in the American history to ever naturalize.

KJ