Immigrants Celebrate Their First July 4th As U.S. Citizens: ‘I Feel Like I Have Waited All My Life For This Day’
For many immigrants across the nation, this past July 4th holiday was one that they’ll never forget. From George Washington’s historic estate in Virginia to Arizona’s majestic national parks to California’s Travis Air Force Base, hundreds of immigrants raised their right hands and were sworn in as brand-new citizens of the United States.
Washington saw one of the largest naturalization ceremonies of the holiday weekend, when more than 500 immigrants from nearly 80 nations were welcomed as American citizens at the Seattle Center, KING5 reports.
“Among them was Gareth Lim, originally from Malaysia, who said the moment brought ‘excitement and joy and honestly a lot of relief.’ His path to citizenship took nearly 20 years and included earning a degree from Seattle University, building a career, and starting a family. ‘To me that’s the American ideal,’ Lim said. ‘I found the life that I want and I got it.’”
It was also a special day for Alma Franulović Plancich, who has coordinated naturalization ceremonies at the Seattle Center for years. She was presented with an award commemorating her 40th ceremony at the center.
In Arizona, immigrants were naturalized in ceremonies at a local community college in Phoenix and the historic Saguaro National Park. At South Mountain Community College, Angelica Ortiz told the Arizona Republic that her citizenship was more than 30 years in the making.
“Ortiz worked for years as a shampoo assistant at a hair salon in Surprise while raising her daughters, learning English and paying her way through beauty school. ‘I feel like I have waited all my life for this day,’ she said.”
At Saguaro National Park, Chiui Lin noted that she’d already been a contributor for many years before becoming a U.S. citizen. The difference is that she can now exercise the full civic responsibilities of being an American, such as making her voice heard through her vote.
“You have to pay the same taxes and you have to obey the laws all the same,” she told the Tucson Sentinel. Immigrants regardless of legal immigration status pay hundreds of billions of dollars in total taxes every single year. “Before, I had all the responsibilities of being here, but now I have the full rights.”
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In North Carolina, Kritza Contreras has been “serving to protect a country she wasn’t a citizen of until this Independence Day,” WTVD reports. She’s a first-year North Carolina National Guard troop. “I am very proud of it,” she said. “I have learned a lot of discipline. I have to show up and be on time. I was here like two hours early.”
“My motivation was mainly my parents, so I could provide for them and help them,” she continued. “I wanted to pursue and further my education, you know, the American dream. I was very decisive on it. It was no take-backs, no second thoughts.” Just ahead of the July 4 holiday, 14 immigrants, including active-duty service members and civilians, became U.S. citizens during a naturalization ceremony at Travis Air Force Base. Immigrants have a long tradition of serving in the U.S. military, fighting in major conflicts since our country’s founding.
In Virginia, more than 100 immigrants from nearly 100 nations became U.S. citizens at the historic Mount Vernon estate of the nation’s first president. Randa Alakkad told The Washington Post that “when she came to study in the United States from Syria 12 years ago, she never expected she would take her oath of allegiance on the country’s 249th birthday, at the home of George Washington.”
New Americans also got the thrill of hearing remarks from former California governor and actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who is himself an immigrant and naturalized American. He told new Americans to treasure what they bring to their adoptive country.
“America needs you with your accent, with your memories of your homeland, the hopes and dreams that you have, and your love for freedom and for family,” he said. “You do not just deserve to be in America. You are needed here.”
“The day I raised my right hand and became an American citizen was, without a doubt, one of the greatest days of my life,” Schwarzenegger continued. “If you told me on that day that 43 years later I would be standing at Mount Vernon, the home of one of my heroes and a historic symbol of freedom and democracy, to welcome more new citizens, I would have been shocked. But that’s the beauty of the United States of America: nothing is impossible.”
The ceremonies followed a number of naturalization events heading into the July 4 holiday. In Illinois, more than 700 immigrants from more than 90 countries were sworn in as U.S. citizens in a Chicago ceremony presided over by Chief Judge Virginia M. Kendall of U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, “whose great-grandparents emigrated from Ireland in the 1880s,” WGN reported. Judge Kendall said her story is an example of the promise of America. “Did my ancestors live the American dream? Yes they did.”
“Freedom took on a whole new meaning this year for William Nigira,” who became a U.S. citizen at the Saguaro National Park ceremony, as 13 News reported. “It feels like a home,” he said. And, that’s how it should feel, for him and others welcomed as new Americans. Our country will only be stronger and more hopeful thanks to their skills, contributions, and dreams.