Official website of the Department of Homeland Security
Over six decades, more than 12 million immigrants came through Ellis Island. Today, 298 people sat in the same place under the American flag and become new U.S. citizens during a naturalization ceremony in the Great Hall. We welcome and celebrate our newest fellow Americans in honor of Citizenship Day and Constitution Week.
DHS and USCIS celebrated the National Park Service Centennial with naturalization ceremonies across the country. These new U.S. citizens took the Oath of Allegiance at the Grand Canyon. Join them, and find your park! Official photo by the U.S. Department of the Interior.
On Friday, May 27, we welcomed 61 new U.S. citizens from 39 countries during a special naturalization ceremony on Ellis Island.
On the 224th anniversary of the ratification of the Bill of Rights, President Barack Obama, Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Director León Rodríguez participated in a special naturalization ceremony at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. Thirty-one people from 25 countries were sworn in as new U.S. citizens. Official DHS photo by Jetta Disco, Dec. 15, 2015.
Some of our nation’s newest and youngest (and costumed) U.S. citizens recite the Pledge of Allegiance at a special Halloween-themed children’s citizenship ceremony at the Baltimore & Ohio (B&O) Railroad Museum in Baltimore, Maryland. Forty-six children from 28 countries for citizenship were recognized. USCIS holds citizenship ceremonies around the country to welcome and celebrate our newest Americans.
USCIS welcomed 100 new citizens from almost three dozen countries on Oct. 18 during a special naturalization ceremony at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City during the fourth annual People en Español Festival. During the ceremony, former New York Yankees pitcher Mariano Rivera and Thalia, the singer, songwriter, actress, author, entrepreneur and fashion designer, were recognized as Outstanding Americans by Choice.
In a special ceremony at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) field office in Miami, Amanda Angelica Budino, a 100-year-old applicant from Buenos Aires, Argentina, recently took the Oath of Allegiance and became a naturalized U.S. Citizen. She has lived in the United States since 2001 and currently resides with her daughter and granddaughter in Miami. Mrs. Budino was the only member of her family who had not attained U.S. citizenship, and said she didn’t want to die without becoming an American citizen.
Last week, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) activities converged on an honorable theme: commemorating Independence Day through service to our nation. Throughout the week, DHS components and employees incorporated the spirit of Independence Day into their efforts, continued to carry out the unwavering DHS mission to protect the U.S., and reflected on how their service contributes to the success of our nation.
