U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services administered the Oath of Allegiance to 24 new citizens during a ceremony at Bruton Memorial Library Friday, March 5.
The diverse group included former residents of 19 countries: Costa Rica, Cuba, the Czech Republic, Dominica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Jordan, Kuwait, Mongolia, Nepal, the Philippines, Thailand, the United Kingdom, Uruguay and Venezuela.
During the ceremony, the new citizens sang “The Star Spangled Banner” and “God Bless America,” watched a special video message from President Barack Obama and listened to guest speakers, including Michael Borgen, district director of immigration services.
“This is a country of immigrants,” Borgen said to the new citizens. “You make us better as a country by taking the step that you did today. … I can’t thank you enough.”