About 14,000 legal immigrants will officially become American citizens on Independence Day, participating in naturalization ceremonies at 27 different locations nationally.
“When oath ceremonies are tied to the Fourth of July, it’s a message that immigrants believe in this country,” Joshua Hoyt, executive director of National Partnership for New Americans (NPNA), told ABC News. “It’s a beautiful and emotional thing.” (RELATED: Independence Day: Fox Business’s Stuart Varney Tells Why He’s Proud To Be An American)
Hoyt added that NPNA supports naturalization as being “good for the immigrants, their communities, and our nation,” while contributing to “higher incomes” and “social cohesion,” according to ABC News.
The Fourth of July falls less than a month after multiple immigration-based incidents have occurred among policy changes. President Donald Trump’s zero-tolerance policy on illegal immigration has caused protests, online campaigns and even personal attacks on administration officials, even though Trump signed a June 20 executive order to keep families of illegal border-crossers together as they await prosecution.
Legal immigrants, however, after going through all the lawful motions to achieve citizenship, are able to participate in the patriotic ceremonies where new Americans are officially sworn in together.
Naturalization ceremonies are often held in places of historic importance — for instance, in Philadelphia, the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) held one for children at the Betsy Ross House, reported The Hill.
“Every year, we celebrate 13 children — who each represent the 13 original colonies — at our ceremony,” Patricia Coyne, a DAR representative, told ABC News. “The Children of the American Revolution read out the colonies’ names and ring a bell in the order they joined the Union as each child comes up and receives their citizenship certificate.”
Coyne said the ceremony “brings tears to [her] eyes every time as the children of America’s first patriots welcome America’s newest children.”
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