Outstanding American by Choice is an award given to naturalized United States citizens "who have achieved [...] extraordinary things" by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) agency of the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS). It was established in January 2006 by Emilio T. Gonzalez, then the director of USCIS. As of 2018, about 130 awards have been given.
Awardees
2006
Marina Belotserkovsky, Soviet-born; Director of Russian Communications and Community Outreach at the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society. José Luis Betancourt, Mexico-born and raised in Texas; Rear-Admiral of the United States Navy. Guarione M. Diaz, Cuban-born; President and Chief Executive Officer of the Cuban American National Council. Carlos M. Gutierrez, Cuban-born; U.S. Secretary of Commerce. Zalmay Khalilzad, Afghan-born; United States Ambassador to Iraq. Renu Khator, Indian-born; Provost and Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs at the University of South Florida. Tom Lantos, Hungarian-born; member of the U.S. House of Representatives. Guillermo Linares, Dominican-born; Commissioner of the Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs for New York City. Caitriona Lyons, Irish-born; Refugee Program Coordinator for the State of Texas. Jose E. Martinez, Dominican-born; U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of Florida. Mel Martínez, Cuban-born; member of the U.S. Senate. Gepsie M. Metellus, Haitian-born; Executive Director of the Sant La Haitian Neighborhood Center. Clementine M. Msengi, Rwandan-born; Founder and Executive Director of the Bright Move Network. Anne M. O'Callaghan, Irish-born; executive director of the Welcoming Center for New Pennsylvanians. Eduardo J. Padrón, Cuban-born; President of Miami Dade College. Kiran C. Patel, Zambian-born; Chairman of the Patel Foundation for Global Understanding. Marion P. Primomo, German-born; Physician, Hospice and Palliative Medicine. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Cuban-born; member of the U.S. House of Representatives. John F. Timoney, Irish-born; Chief of Police of the Miami Police Department. Fang A. Wong, Chinese-born; Special Operations Specialist with L3 Communications at ILEX Systems.
2007
Eduardo Aguirre, Cuban-born; United States Ambassador to the Kingdom of Spain and the Principality of Andorra. Rasul Alsalih, Iraqi-born; United States Air Force. Oluwasina Awolusi, Nigerian-born; United States Air Force. Cristina V. Beato, Cuban-born; Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Katja Bullock, German-born; Special Assistant to the President for Presidential Personnel in The White House. Josefina Carbonell, Cuban-born; Assistant Secretary for Aging at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Franklin Chang Diaz, Costa Rican-born; astronaut. Manuel A. Diaz, Cuban-born; Mayor of Miami. Manuel Dominguez, Cuban-born; United States Air Force. Ricardo Ernst, Venezuelan-born; professor at Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business. Emilio Estefan, Cuban-born; musician, producer, entrepreneur. Gloria Estefan, Mexican-born; singer-songwriter. Luis Glaser, Austrian-born; Professor of Biology and Special Assistant to the President at the University of Miami. Vartan Gregorian, Iranian-born; President of the Carnegie Corporation of New York. Farooq Kathwari, Indian-born; Chairman and CEO of Ethan Allen. M.J. Khan, Pakistani-born; Houston City Council Member. Alfonso Martinez-Fonts Jr., Cuban-born; Assistant Secretary of the Private Sector Office at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Alejandro Gomez Monteverde, Mexican-born; director/screenwriter. Indra Nooyi, Indian-born; Chairman and chief executive officer of PepsiCo. Tze Ng, Hong Kong-born; entrepreneur. Miguel Orozco, Ecuadorian-born; community leader. Dina Powell, Egyptian-born; Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State. Anna Prager, Polish-born; civic leader. Mitzie A. Robinson, Jamaican-born; United States Coast Guard. Samuel G. Saldívar, Mexican-born; Professor emeritus at the United States Military Academy. John Shalikashvili, Polish-born; General in the United States Army. Peter W. Schramm, Hungarian-born; Executive Director of the John M. Ashbrook Center for Public Affairs and Professor of Political Science at Ashland University. Abida S. Shoyeb, Pakistani-born; Officer for the South Atlantic District Veterinary Command of the United States Army. Antonio Taguba, Filipino-born; Major-General in the United States Army. Van T. Thai, Vietnamese-born; United States Air Force.