Article: Tears, diapers - and 75,000 new US citizens: A federal law that took effect yesterday grants automatic citizenship to adopted kids born abroad.(USA)

Mary Dutczak skipped school yesterday. But she's hardly in trouble.

Yesterday morning, the 14-year-old put on a new blue-and-white dress and journeyed from her home in Boylston, Mass., to Boston's historic Faneuil Hall for a special ceremony - a celebration of her new status as a United States citizen.

Until a year ago, Mary had lived in an orphanage in Nanjing, China. Now, under a federal law that took effect at midnight Monday, Mary and 75,000 other adopted children born abroad have become US citizens - just by getting out of bed.

Is she excited? "Yes, because we can vote for the president," said Mary, who carried a Chinese flag at the ...

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