The D’Souzas said they sought citizenship because they could not let another election pass without casting their own votes.
“We missed voting,” said Sonal D’Souza, 39. “I think for me that was the biggest thing. I did not, could not, have a voice.”
Today’s noontime naturalization ceremony, complete with a musket salute from local Minute Men corps in tri-corner hats and britches and a recorded greeting from President Obama, marked the first-ever swearing-in of new citizens in the Concord national park. The park's superintendent, Nancy Nelson, smiled as the sun glinted off the Concord River passing beneath old North Bridge. "What a beautiful day for this," she said. "I imagine we will have more of these here."
The National Park Service and the Department of Homeland Security’s US Citizenship and Immigration Services entered into a memorandum of understanding last year to begin holding more naturalization ceremonies in national parks.
Today’s program, part of a week of Patriots Day activities in the area, drew new citizens from 29 countries — Albania, Algeria, Belarus, Bolivia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Canada, China, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Ghana, Haiti, India, Iran, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Lebanon, New Zealand, Philippines, Romania, South Africa, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and Vietnam.
“As children you learned different languages, you ate different foods, you might practice different religions, you lived in different places but now you are all citizens of the United States. We are all Americans. Together we stand as one people defined not by blood or race or a tribe or wealth but by a fact of citizenship,” said U.S. District Court Judge Magistrate Jennifer Boal.
“It is very fitting that this naturalization ceremony take place here in Minute Man National Historical Park, the birth place of our liberty where other new Americans cried out for their freedom,” Boal continued. “In particular, the Minute Man soldiers represented here today volunteered to fight for the founding of this country.”
