Good News for Our Citizenship clients. More than 9,000 candidates will become new citizens during 63 special ceremonies hosted by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) in recognition of Constitution Day and Citizenship Day on Sept. 17. As part of this celebration, USCIS is partnering with the National Park Service (NPS) to hold naturalization ceremonies at 22
national park sites across the country Sept. 13-24 under the theme, “Embrace Citizenship –
Experience America Through Your National Parks.”
Highlights for this year’s celebration include a Sept. 15 ceremony for 25 new citizens at the
foot of General Grant’s Tree, the largest giant sequoia in the General Grant Grove section of Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Park in Three Rivers, Calif. This grand park was named in
1867 after Ulysses S. Grant, the 18th president of the United States.
Other national parks ceremonies will also be held at the Grand Canyon, one of the country’s
oldest national parks; Homestead National Monument, which commemorates the Homestead
Act of 1862 granting free land to citizens and new immigrants; and the Herbert Hoover
National Historic Site in Iowa. The citizenship process has been described as a ritual which is “meaningful for many immigrants” and similar in some respects to a “first communion” or “bar mitzvah”.