They came from nations around the world, from at least four different continents, but after a ceremony in Kennebunk Friday morning, a group of 20 immigrants can now say they are American citizens.
The group took the oath of citizenship in the gymnasium of the Middle School of the Kennebunks, while a crowd of more than 500 students, faculty and staff looked on.
“Today marks a very special milestone in your life,” Erika Grunnet, acting field office director for U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services in Portland, told the attendees. “It is truly a day to celebrate the amazing paths that have brought all of us together.”
Ellen Jardine, an English language learning teacher at the school, said Friday marked the fourth time the school has hosted such a ceremony. She said the concept, which goes back 13 years, was to spread the ceremonies out to make sure each successive generation of middle school students would see the ceremony at least once.
“I think that for them, it really just brings it home and it makes it real, that we are a nation of immigrants, minus those who were born on this soil, that we’re a nation of immigrants and that all of our families went through some variation on this process generations ago,” Jardine said.
Prior to the swearing-in, author Ibdi Nor Iftin addressed the crowd. A Somali native, he said he took part in a similar ceremony in Portland in 2020, becoming a naturalized citizen. He said getting a U.S. passport for the first time “opened so many doors” for him.
“I remember the days I traveled with refugee documents in my pocket in Kenya,” he recalled. “Those documents did not allow me to travel freely.”
After welcoming remarks, the applicants stood together and, holding up their right hands, swore an oath to renounce their country of birth and embrace citizenship. The swearing-in was followed by the handing out of certificates, making their new citizenship official.
The new citizens came from a total of 15 different countries worldwide, including Afghanistan, the Philippines, Jamaica, Italy, Thailand and Bosnia. One by one, the newly sworn-in citizens went up to collect certificates. One man from Honduras gripped his certificate in both hands, held it over his head, and jumped up and down, earning a roar of applause and cheers from the crowd.
Ken Niyonkuru, 25, a native of Burundi now living in Biddeford and working as a research assistant at the University of New England, was one of the applicants who took the oath on Friday.
“It was surreal,” he said. “It was just very emotional to me because it’s been coming a long time and we just felt like this process that has been building up for a while now is coming to a proper end now with joy.”
Safa Hassan, 18, came to America when she was three years old, and now lives in Lewiston. When asked what it was like to get a certificate of citizenship, she held it up and said, “I was like, ‘It’s official now, yo, I’m a US citizen!’ It’s great to have this. I just want to put it up somewhere.”
To be eligible for citizenship, an immigrant must first live legally in the US for five years, or for three years if married to a U.S. citizen. Then, they may fill out an application, and take two tests: A civics test and an English language written proficiency test.