74 individuals from 32 different countries became official U.S. citizens at a naturalization ceremony held on BYU campus on Wednesday October 16, 2024.
BYU University Relations and volunteers from the BYU Office of Civic Engagement worked with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Salt Lake City field office to hold a naturalization ceremony at BYU.
Naturalization ceremonies end the process of naturalization that one takes to acquire official, legal U.S. citizenship. The naturalized individuals were present at the ceremony with their families, friends, government officials, as well as BYU administrators, faculty, staff and students.
U.S. Chief Magistrate Judge for the District of Utah Dustin Pead was at the ceremony to administer the Oath of Allegiance and formally grant naturalization. Pead gave remarks during the ceremony to the newly certified citizens.
“There’s something very unique about today,” Pead said. “Today this represents a shared interest, a common goal, and a celebration of others.”
Manoel Abreu was one among many who completed naturalization and achieved U.S. citizenship at the ceremony.
Abreu came to the U.S. for school but planned to return to his home country, Brazil, afterwards. However, after his first son was born, plans changed.
“The people in this country saved his life,” Abreu said.
Abreu explained that his son “had complications.” Abreu felt that, because of the opportunities that could be made available to his son, he needed to stay in the U.S.
This ceremony was the second naturalization ceremony to be held on BYU campus; the first ceremony was held earlier this year in April.
Libby Reynolds is the president of the BYU Civic Engagement Leadership Association. Reynolds organized the first BYU campus naturalization ceremony as a capstone project.
Reynolds said that BYU donates the space to the association for the ceremony to be held in.
“I am just so thankful that it’s something that’s continuing at BYU,” Reynolds said. “It’s an awesome bridge between the community and BYU.”
Pead said that BYU is the perfect place to hold a naturalization ceremony, because to him, BYU represents inclusion.
“BYU has been wonderful at accepting people from all over the world,” Pead said.
Citizens that pursue naturalization to U.S. citizenship change not just their own lives, but also the lives of their generations to follow.
BYU history professor David-James Gonzales made remarks during the ceremony. Gonzales expressed the ceremony’s personal significance to him, telling the story of his maternal grandmother’s journey to U.S. citizenship, when she immigrated from Mexico to the U.S. in the 1940s.
“To cross borders, to move and establish a life in a new place is extremely rare in global history,” Gonzales said, “you have done something exceptional; just under 4% of the total global population lives in a country they weren’t born in.”
The naturalization process consists of several steps. Naturalization candidates must — among various other tasks — check their eligibility, complete biometrics and background checks, attend interviews, take an English and civics test and submit various forms and documents, according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
“It is quite extraordinary what you’ve accomplished,” Gonzales said. “You have in fact beat the odds.”
Natalie Bradley of the League of Women Voters — a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that helps citizens exercise their right to vote — addressed citizens at the ceremony.
“Our state and country are better and richer with you here,” Bradley said.
The inquiry of U.S. citizenship brings all the rights and responsibilities thereof. Bradley said that her favorite of these rights is the right to vote.
Bradley encouraged citizens to participate in the country’s democracy and emphasized the value of a representative government, in which elected officials work on behalf of the people.
“You have a unique story that most Americans don't have,” Bradley told the citizens.
Those who spoke at the ceremony recognized the importance of the citizens’ cultures and encouraged them not to abandon it, but to integrate it into the cultural melting pot that is the United States.
“The oath you took today required you to renounce your allegiance to your native country,” Pead said. “It does not mean that you must give up your love for the land of your nativity … it does not mean forgetting or denying your native heritage.”
Pead said that newcomers are important to the United States, and they have been since the country’s founding. He explained that all U.S. citizens can learn from the new citizens’ heritages and customs.
“The best of your culture now can become the best of ours too,” Pead said.
Pead also said that a considerable amount of U.S. citizens have a limited understanding of their government. However, there is not just a lack of knowledge among U.S. citizens about their government, but a lack of faith.
Pead shared findings from a poll in 2001, that show more than half of 18-29 year olds believed that the democracy of the United States was either in trouble or failing altogether. Pead explained, according to the poll, the same group believed that there is likely a chance of civil war.
“We can, and we have to do better,” Pead said.
Pead told of a particular moment that stood-out to him during his time as an immigration judge.
“I had one circumstance where a woman asked, after I granted (asylum), to come up and kiss the flag,” Pead said, “because she knew what it meant for her and her family.”
Pead said that citizens can learn a lot from the newcomers’ stories.
“I wish that everybody could witness a naturalization ceremony. I think it would reinvigorate their faith in our country,” Pead said.
Pead explained that hearing the stories of those who had just been granted citizenship, their struggles and hardships, and the overall joy that brought them to the U.S., restored his faith in the country, and left him optimistic for the future.
People from all over the world come to the United States for opportunities that will change their lives.
“That's the beauty of US citizenship. It's opportunity,” Pead said.