AAA Western and Central New York is proud to announce that Fleet Technician Mohamed Sillah has become a U.S. citizen. Originally from Sierra Leone in West Africa, Sillah came to Syracuse in 2017 and has been with AAA Central New York Fleet since May 2019. He has moved up the Fleet ranks and is currently a Lead Emergency Roadside Service (ERS) Technician.

Sillah’s achievement is the culmination of a long journey to becoming a naturalized citizen. After months of studying and passing his citizenship test, Sillah became a U.S. citizen during a naturalization ceremony on Friday, March 17 in Syracuse by taking an oath of allegiance to the United States before a federal judge.

"The ceremony was like a second birthday for me, because now I am a citizen of the United States,” Sillah said. “It means a lot to me—it means that now I have the opportunity to vote and have a voice in this country and in my community."

“We are very happy for Mohamed,” said AAA Fleet Operations Manager Todd Ingraham. “He loves his job and goes way above and beyond to provide extraordinary service to our members.”

Sillah said his favorite part of the job is getting out on the road each day and helping people. "This is my passion. When you're doing something, you must have passion, and then every day will be a good day," he said. "The message I want to share with people is that failure is not the end. Failure is the start of your journey, it is not a disgrace, it means you try again. Do not give up."

In becoming a valuable team member at AAA, Sillah continues to support his family in Africa and travels there annually for an extended visit with hopes of one day bringing them to the United States to be together.
“AAA is so pleased with Sillah’s success and career progression that we are looking to hire more individuals in need of work who are looking for meaningful job opportunities,” Ingraham added, noting that applications can be found at www.AAA.com/Careers.

The AAA team celebrated Sillah’s accomplishments with a celebration on Thursday, March 23rd at the CNY Fleet building in East Syracuse.