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twitterLas Vegas welcomes 102 new citizens in ceremony
Officials praise diversity as group represents 35 countries
Justin M. Bowen
Newly sworn in U.S. citizens wave flags Thursday. U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services and the city of Las Vegas welcomed more than 100 Las Vegas-area residents as new citizens during a Thursday swearing-in ceremony at Las Vegas City Hall.
Thursday, July 2, 2009 | 4:15 p.m.
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Feelings of patriotism ran high today at Las Vegas City Hall as the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services welcomed 102 new U.S. citizens during a ceremony in the council chambers.
The fourth annual swearing-in ceremony is part of the city's "Celebrate America" initiative. Mayor Oscar Goodman, USCIS District Director John Kramar and Councilman Stavros Anthony were in attendance with U.S. District Court Judge Lloyd George presiding.
Before the ceremony officially began, representatives for Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.), Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), and U.S. Reps. Dina Titus and U.S. Rep. Shelley Berkley (both D-Nev.) read letters of congratulations.
In all, the new citizens represented 35 countries, from Australia to Vietnam. The largest group hailed from the Philippines.
An oath of allegiance sounded throughout the chambers as all 102 stood to recite it. Afterward, they waved their small American flags in the air, their smiles lit up by the camera flashes of friends and family.
Among the speakers were new citizens Nileshini Lata Gopal, of Fiji, who came to the U.S. in 2006, and Mary Anne Santo Hizon, from the Philippines.
"Most of you may have had a long and difficult journey to get here," Gopal said. "And today is a day of triumph and the beginning of a new chapter in our personal journey and history.
“By becoming citizens of the United States of America, we are changing not only our lives, but also the lives of our upcoming generations."
She expressed wonder at the country's diverse citizens who are, she said, so different yet strive for the same American dream.
She added: "I still get intrigued to see a Hispanic cook making an authentic Indian curry in an Indian restaurant," she said. "And being connected to a call center somewhere in India when you call to activate a local credit card."
When Goodman spoke, he emphasized the importance of diversity, citing the phrase: The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
"Because we have a fabric of many different threads, many different colors, many different textures that bind together to make us into something very, very special," he said.
He said his family came to the U.S. from Europe not knowing the language or anyone who lived in the country.
"Can you imagine coming from a family that two generations ago didn't speak any English and then becoming mayor of the greatest city in the world? And the happiest mayor in the universe?" he said. "It can only happen in the United States of America."
New citizen Garry Campano arrived in the U.S. in 2005 from the Philippines and sat quietly in the back of the chambers before the ceremony began.
"I want to be a part of this great country," he said. "(There are) a lot of good opportunities here."
As he walked across the front of the room to shake hands with the mayor and other officials, he beamed.
Similarly, Adrian san Roman, who just received his certificate of citizenship, was speechless. He is originally from Cuba and came to the United States about five years ago.
"I cannot find words to describe how I feel," he said, smiling. "You know, it's something I've been reaching for for a long time. I did it, I did it. And I'm really, really happy about it."
John Vore, of the Order of the Elks, spoke on the honor of becoming an American and the responsibilities and morals that come along with it. The key to those beliefs, he said, is the pride citizens have for the symbol of the United States -- the flag.
"And now it's your flag," he told them. "Wave it proudly."
Discussion: 25 comments so far…
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Congrats! What a great story for the 4th of July weekend.
You did it the right way by getting in line instead of illegally entering our country and hiding in the shadows. Wish everyone thought it was their responsibility to learn our language and pledge allegiance to our flag.
To the rest of you, hope you go home soon...
I hope they have read the constitution and understand that rights belong to individuals and not groups (minority or majority). But they also could go on to become a racist supreme court nominee who wants to do away with the right to free speech.
I want to welcome all of these new Americans to the fold. All of you will help us to keep this the best country in the world. Thanks for joining us.
Glad to see a lot of people from the Philippines in the group. While my old Nurse girlfriend at UMC used to complain about them, I think that because most of them have at least a rudimentary, if not better comprehension of English, they will fit in nicely. Sometimes, being a former colony of English speaking countries is an asset. Just ask my many friends from Jamaica..
Comment removed by staff.
"every filipino that comes to vegas is a "+1" in the win column.
they are smart, hard working, and law abiding.
unlike the dirty mexicans."
- stevem
You are the type of person we don't need.
Congratulations to you all, and welcome to the greatest country in the world!
Exercise your rights, express yourselves, and do your best to ignore the racist pendejos. We have a few, as you can see.
And above all, remember to VOTE.
i'm exactly the person that you need because i speak the truth.
YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH!
Just what our economy needs, new citizens to compete with the unemployed. Our visa card and greencard programs should be shut down until our country can try to make an economic comeback and get the thousands of citizens in our country without work back to work.
With many of the large manufacturing Corps. outsourcing thousands of jobs to overseas markets in the last 8 years our economy has been reeling out of control trying to find a balance to enable it to put itself back together with very little help from our government. Adding more fuel to the fire will not put out the fire.
With all the help our country has given to other countries when they've needed it, don't you think its time we got some help from our own government? Shouldn't we put a stop on inducting new citizens into our country until our unemployed can get back to work? The jobs of yore are now in other countries. We are having a hard enough time keeping all our citizens employed. Why add new citizens to the breadline?
Welcome, welcome one and all! I am so proud of your hard work and dedication. Now for the hard part, reading.
Spend at least 30 minutes every night reading something, a novel, a magazine or even the Bible. If you have children they need to read 30 minutes in English and 30 minutes in their native tongue. If you have other family members that are learning English, then they need to read aloud 30 minutes every night. The more you read, the better reader and writer you become. A great novel to read this summer would be "The Old Man and the Sea" by Hemmingway. This novel is a great testament to the adage of never giving up hope!
To all of you who posted negative comments regarding this: Put your money where your mouth is! YOU TRY and pass the citizenship test! It is very difficult and most do not pass it the first time around. My guess it would take you several times to do so. And do not assume they do not have jobs. If it meant so much to them to study and WANT to become citizens, they understand it is not a free ride. I wish there were more like them instead of the leaches that inhabit this country that think that we OWE them something because we do not. If only the politicians and all those liberals understood that.
We tend to forget how lucky we are being born Americans and we have our grandparents and great grandparents and great great grandparents to thank for something we all take for granted. They came to this country with nothing but worked hard to give their families a better life AND they learned English!! And not ONE of them thought that learning English meant giving up the cultures of the countries they came from. THose cultures exist in the generations that followed. And still exist in most parts of the country where it all started.
I attended a Citizenship Ceremony about 12 years ago for the woman who was my Father's caregiver. It was one of the most moving events I have ever attended.
So congratulations to all those who are now Americans. We appreciate what you have done.
StevenM is going out of his way to insult the Mexicans, again (geez, what a surprise).
You'd think the Sun would prohibit his openly racist remarks.
Until they do, it apparently falls on all of us to remind him that this type of racism is usually the mark of a very simple mind...and to encourage him to find a country of similar small minded inbred folk who can all sit around together, spew venom about a particular ethnic groups, and then spend the whole night smoking meth and beating off to porn.
Seriously, let us make all current citizens take the citizenship and anyone who flunks it should be deported to StevenM's fantasy island!
Make Team American stronger by recruiting the best legal immigrants and by kicking out all the dead weight.
Bye Bye StevenM!
I agree with stevem. Philipinos have respect for the U.S. They havent forgot about the thousands of American soldiers who gave their lives to free them from Japanese rule for over 2 years. The mexican people dont care about us , only our hand outs.
i guess if i said the 9-11 terrorists were muslim, i'd be a racist as well?
stating the facts is not racism.
you never hear "press 2 for tagolog...or german...or french...or japanese" do you?
nope. only "press 2 for spanish".
why is that?
That's because a large percent of the population is able to speak spanish. Fact.
You can actually contact people in customer service in a different language if you ask around.
And if you were smart enough, you would know that there isn't an official language in the U.S.
It seems you lack the ability to speak another language, logically making you inferior.
Why is that? (HA, take an english course and capitalize your "I's" and every starting letter)
ich spreche deutsch, sehr gut.
there is a "press 2 for spanish" because most of the mexicans that come here have zero interest in learning the functioning BUSINESS language we use in this country.
and this isn't about ME, it's about them. they come to MY country and refuse to learn the language and obey our laws.
if i went to THEIR country, would there be a "press 2 for english" option?
i doubt it.
and i just noticed they removed my initial comment. haha! the "sun" is SO liberal, it's almost funny.
if i post a FACT about mormons...it stays up for weeks. if i post a FACT about any ethnic group, it lasts about 2 hours.
Welcome to America new citizens. Thank you for jumping through the hoops to be here legally.
To those who oppose legal immigration and support shutting off the process entirely:
I used to feel the same way. The H1B program is a total ripoff for US workers. However, after learning a little more, I learned that since the Feds raided the social security funds that were paid in by the baby boomers as part of the general budget, we don't have enough people paying into the system to support this giant ponzi scheme.
With our falling birth-rate (natural for all developed societies) we need immigrants. Legal ones.
Again, welcome new citizens.
OG, There is no such thing as racism when speaking about people from different countries. People who are citizens from other countries are considered nationals.
There are races within each country that make up our world. An American citizen cannot be a racist towards anyone from another country, however , he can be a racist towards a citizen from his own country.
"ich spreche deutsch, sehr gut.
there is a "press 2 for spanish" because most of the mexicans that come here have zero interest in learning the functioning BUSINESS language we use in this country. "
]and this isn't about ME, it's about them. they come to MY country and refuse to learn the language and obey our laws.
if i went to THEIR country, would there be a "press 2 for english" option?"
There is a "press 2 for english" in other countries. I've seen it and used it myself :P
"and i just noticed they removed my initial comment. haha! the "sun" is SO liberal, it's almost funny.
if i post a FACT about mormons...it stays up for weeks. if i post a FACT about any ethnic group, it lasts about 2 hours."
Your initial comment was definitely racist. "Dirty Mexicans" is unnecessary. Way to emphasize on "SO" as if we didn't get it if you didn't use it, it's almost funny.
The thing is, you don't post a fact. You post an ignorant opinion that lacks empirical evidence.
for all you that say the Mexicans only take handouts ....obviously have had only limited contact with them... bc I live in Vegas and MOST Mexican workers work 2x as hard as the white workers... I SAID MOST MEXICAN WORKERS...I WOULD RATHER WORK WITH ALL MEXICANS THAN WHITES...MEXICANS CAN GET THE JOB DONE AND THEY DONT BI TCH AND COMPLAIN
MEXICANS CAN GET THE JOB DONE AND THEY DONT BI TCH AND COMPLAIN
Quoted from above.
Yes, they do. Just like the rest of us. Only they complain in Spanish. Just because you can't understand it doesn't mean they aren't bi tching boss.
Hey magsny1999, if you like working with mexicans so mucho, go to mexico and take 2 million illegals with you. While your there start a revolution and overthrough the government. Oh, if they work so hard, on your way back down there pick up all the garbage left in the desert the 2 million left on their walk to the border.
white american 433, you're hilarious.
Some of you people are the most ignorant I have encountered.
The majority just afraid that to become the minority now and are tending to become white supremacists to defeat these "invaders". It's hilarious!
I'm sorry you guys are diminishing, go check your fertility, you're probably infertile.