National Park Service hosts naturalization ceremony on the banks of the Missouri River

Soon to be citizens of the United States stand during the naturalization ceremony at the NPS Midwest Regional Office.

NPS/S BIESSEL

On a sunny and pleasant autumn morning in Omaha, Nebraska, 24 individuals from Mexico, Iran, Vietnam, Morocco, the Philippines, Somalia, Burma, Kenya, Lebanon, Honduras, Somalia, Iraq, Syria, Cuba, Australia, United Kingdom, and Bhutan, became the United States’ newest citizens.

In partnership with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the naturalization ceremony took place on October 5, 2023, in the National Park Service’s (NPS) Midwest Regional Office. The office is co-located with the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail. The site overlooks the Missouri River, which once transported the Corps of Discovery through vast native homelands as they made their way to the Pacific Ocean.

Regional Director Bert Frost congratulates a new United States citizen.

NPS/S BIESSEL

Midwest Regional Director Bert Frost served as the keynote speaker during the ceremony, opening with the words of founding father, George Washington “…America is open to receive not only the opulent and respectable stranger, but the oppressed and persecuted of all nations and religions; whom we shall welcome to a participation of all our rights and privileges, if by decency and propriety of conduct they appear to merit the enjoyment.” During his keynote, Bert shared his family’s immigrant story. His grandparents emigrated to the United States starting as farmers; within two generations, one of their descendent was a college professor, “the true American dream became reality. And because of choices that my family made generations ago, today, I get to stand here, and together we honor you, we congratulate you, and we welcome you.”

The NPS and USCIS have a partnership that encourages both agencies to co-host naturalization ceremonies in these special places set aside for public enjoyment and historical commemoration. Since 2006, both agencies have welcomed thousands of new citizens at parks, monuments, and historic sites, connecting the next generation of American immigrants to the nation’s most historic and precious places. In 2023, nearly a dozen naturalization ceremonies have taken place in parks across the Midwest Region of the NPS.

In closing, Bert thanked the men and women who would soon become citizens, “We are a nation of immigrants. Thank you for adding to our story.”