Tomorrow, Friday January 3rd, a New Citizens Swearing In Ceremony will be conducted at Trenton City Hall at 10:00 a.m. by the Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) unit of the Department of Homeland Security. Both solemn and jubilant, the ceremony marks the final step on the long path to full citizenship in America. Attendance is open to the public and free.
Accompanied by the NJ Fife and Drums detail, Mayor Reed Gusciora and Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman are confirmed to attend. They will greet the new citizens and represent some of the best of what Trenton has to offer in terms of history, culture and civics.
USCIS Newark District Director John E. Thompson will serve as master of ceremonies, held in the Trenton City Council Chambers on the second floor of City Hall. USCIS Mount Laurel Field Office Director Ya-Mei Chen will administer the Oath of Allegiance to the forty-one candidates during the naturalization Ceremony. Adding a distinctive touch to the proceedings, the national anthem and other historic music will be performed by the NJ Fifes and Drum Corps, reflecting the City’s revolutionary history and heritage.
The citizenship candidates originate from the following 23 countries: Bulgaria, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Germany, Ghana, Guatemala, Guinea, India, Ireland, Jamaica, Jordan, Latvia, Liberia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, People’s Republic of China, Peru, Poland, Russia, Taiwan and Turkey.
In order to emphasize the importance of U.S. citizenship, USCIS conducts swearing-in ceremonies at venues such as museums, civic buildings and parks to increase public awareness of the U.S. citizenship process. In federal fiscal year 2019, USCIS welcomed some 844,000 new citizens in naturalization ceremonies across the United States (and around the world).
Here is the Oath of Allegiance that each candidate will take: “I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty, of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God.”
