Forty-six new American citizens – hailing from as far away as Russia, Vietnam, and Iraq – took the oath of citizenship in Lexington Friday.
They came from 29 different countries, but Friday all officially gained the title Americans.
"Will the applicants please stand and raise your right hand..." Judge Claria Horn Boom began the oath, which asks reciters to renounce allegiences to any "foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty" and support and defend the U.S. Constitution.
The hour-long ceremony included comments from Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes and several others, many of whom urged the newly-minted citizens to exercise their new right to vote and continue the work of "work of molding and maintaining a country where all people are truly created equal."
Afterward, Tahira Shahzad, originally from Pakistan, and her husband were wrangling two kids, one of whom spent the morning collecting the uniquitous miniature American flags from around the auditorium. When asked why they chose to move to the United States, she came back repeatedly to one word.
"Freedom," she said, finishing up her voting registration forms. "For the woman. You have a more comfortable way to live here... (with) women's rights."
Yet even in a room of immigrants, views on immigration are appropriately diverse. Shaduzzaman Kamal, a software engineer from Bangladesh and U.S. citizen, was on hand to watch his wife accept her ceritificate.
"This country is welcoming to anybody," he explains. "It's full of opportunity."
Kamal, who has lived in or visited spots across the globe from China to London to Dubai, says he's found in the United States a uniquely open country. But in 2016, he cast his ballot for President Donald Trump.
"He's trying to stop some crime... he's building the wall to protect our country, not to do anything wrong," Kamal says.
The ceremony marked the 90th for Secretary Grimes, who shook hands and took pictures with the new American citizens folllowing the event. Asked whether the emotion wears off, Grimes said, "Every experience is just as engaging and inspiring as the one before... It's one of the best parts of my job."
