Naturalization Ceremony

Dallas naturalization ceremony where USCIS officers admit candidates from many countries, candidates take the oath of allegiance, and County Commissioner Elba Garcia gives a keynote on the American dr

Key Takeaways

Naturalization is a formal legal process culminating in an oath of allegiance and certificate of citizenship.
Candidates come from diverse countries and backgrounds, with varied reasons for seeking citizenship.
Civic participation, especially in local elections, is strongly encouraged for new citizens.
The keynote highlights personal perseverance and opportunity as central to the immigrant experience.

What the video covers

USCIS Supervisory Officer Richard Burmester opens the naturalization ceremony on behalf of DHS and USCIS, welcoming candidates and recognizing local officials and guests.
Officials acknowledge the emotional and sometimes difficult journeys candidates made to reach citizenship, whether joining family or being first in their families to immigrate.
Candidates from countries including Bangladesh, Burma, Dominican Republic, Eritrea, India, Japan, Liberia, Mexico, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, South Africa, Syria, and Vietnam are called and recommended for admission.
The officer states each candidate met residency, good moral character, English ability, and civics knowledge requirements under US law.
Section Chief Jill Ennis explains the history of the Oath of Allegiance and leads candidates in reciting it, including renunciation of foreign allegiances and willingness to bear arms or perform service when required.
Candidates recite the Pledge of Allegiance and receive certificates of citizenship.
Dallas County Commissioner Elba Garcia gives the keynote, sharing her own naturalization 28 years earlier and her path from dental school in Mexico to public office.
Garcia emphasizes the opportunity and American dream, and encourages new citizens to participate in local elections because county and city government affect daily life.
The ceremony closes with congratulations, a certificate presentation to individual new citizens, and thanks to volunteers and staff who helped organize the event.

Chapters

What is the purpose of this ceremony?

The ceremony formally admits the listed candidates as United States citizens after USCIS has found them eligible. Candidates take the Oath of Allegiance and receive their certificates.

Who gave the keynote speech?

Dallas County Commissioner for District 4, Dr. Elba Garcia, gave the keynote. She shared her own naturalization story from 28 years earlier and her path to public office.

What does the Oath of Allegiance require of new citizens?

New citizens renounce allegiance to any foreign state, pledge to support and defend the US Constitution and laws, and agree to bear arms or perform non-combatant or civilian national service when required by law.

Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown

Speaker A

yes um so all right ladies and gentlemen we're about to begin good morning i'm supervisory immigration services officer richard burmester and on behalf of the department of homeland security and the united states citizenship and immigration services i'd like to welcome all of you to your

Speaker A

naturalization ceremony at this time i'd like to recognize a few special guests that we have today dallas county commissioner dr elba garcia district 4 who also be serving as our guest speaker mayor pro tim chad west district one

Speaker A

deputy mayor pro tem jaime resindez district five city council member kara mendelson district 12 city council member paul ridley district 14 dallas assistant city manager liz sedeo porreira and honorable sarah r saldana retired u.s attorney for the northern district

Speaker A

of texas and obama administration director of the united states immigration and customs [Applause] this occasion is a defining moment in your life that you will not soon forget it is a very special day for all of you and we are all proud to be part of it

Speaker A

we know that for some of you it has been a long and difficult journey to get where you are today for some of you it might have been an easy decision to come to the united states because you already had family

Speaker A

members living here to help you get started in your new country while for others the decision to come to the united states might have been very difficult because you were the first in your family to journey to the united

Speaker A

states whatever the reason you had for applying for united states citizenship and whatever struggles you may have faced to be here today i congratulate you and welcome you to your naturalization ceremony at this time if everyone will please

Speaker A

stand for the presentation of colors followed by the national anthem um [Music] man [Music] oh [Music] whose broad stripes and bright stars [Music] we watched [Music] bursting [Music] that our flag was still [Music] yet [Music] rain right all right at this time if everyone will

Speaker A

please take a seat and at this time i'm going to call the countries and present the candidates for citizenship so as i call your country a former nationality please stand for a moment bangladesh [Applause] you can take a seat

Speaker A

burma dominican republic [Applause] eritrea india japan liberia mexico nepal netherlands pakistan philippines [Applause] south africa [Applause] syria [Applause] and vietnam [Applause] each of the candidates for citizenship has been examined by an immigration services officer of the united states

Speaker A

citizenship and immigration services and has been found entitled under law to be naturalized each of the candidates has a required residence and physical presence within the jurisdiction of this district each of the candidates has established that during the statutory period

Speaker A

required by law he or she was a good moral character attached to the principles of our constitution and well disposed of the good order and happiness of the united states each of the candidates unless exempted by the law has demonstrated an ability

Speaker A

to read write and speak words in ordinary usage in the english language in addition each candidate has demonstrated his or her knowledge and understanding of the fundamentals of the history and of the principles and forms of government of the united states

Speaker A

therefore section chief julia enos is recom it is recommended that these candidates be admitted to united states citizenship subject to taking the oath of allegiance to the united states thank you supervisor burmester again i my name is jill ennis and i'm a

Speaker A

section chief at the united states citizenship and immigration services office and i would like to welcome all of you to your naturalization ceremony today throughout our nation's history men and women have come to the united states taken the oath of

Speaker A

allegiance to become naturalized citizens and contributed greatly to their new communities and country the oath of allegiance has led led to american citizenship for more than 220 years and today you will become part of that history so at this time with all

Speaker A

the candidates please rise and raise your right hand and repeat after me i hereby declare on oath that i absolutely and entirely renounce and absorb all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince potentate state or sovereignty of whom or which

Speaker A

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

Speaker A

then i will bear arms on behalf of the united states when required by the law that i will perform non-combatant service in the armed forces of the united states when required by the law that i will perform work of national

Speaker A

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 congratulations you're all citizens of the united states at this time i would like to ask for

Speaker A

everyone to please rise as we say the pledge of allegiance to the united to the flag of the united states i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands one nation

Speaker A

under god indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you please be seated at this time i would like to introduce the keynote speaker miss dallas county commissioner alba garcia [Applause] good morning buenos dias congratulations to all of you and thank

Speaker A

you to all the elected officials that are here today honorable nervous resendez meddleson ridley please stand up you know and be recognized of course miss miss lisa dillo pereira and horrible sandana is always great to see you both

Speaker A

you know to the naturalization immigration service thank you for the invitation you all do the job that you know we're all very proud of and i have to say that today is your day and i want to congratulate you my name is dr elva

Speaker A

garcia i'm the dallas county commissioner for district four and i can understand how you're feeling today 28 years ago i was right here you know in this ceremony and i have to say at the time it was like a mixed emotion

Speaker A

part of me was so excited and the other part of me was so nervous but at the end of the day i knew what it meant it was to be i was going to have the honor of being an american citizen

Speaker A

and i have to say that as as you all have studied american history i have done already my test i have learned my elected officials and of course here i was ready to be sworn and i remember seeing all the faces as

Speaker A

excited as i was because i have to learn english i was ready to be the next generation of american citizens that was going to make the difference and i know that all of us are here for different reasons some of you

Speaker A

have probably run from oppression some of you for jobs some of you for family some others people you know like me by marriage i was i i got to to dallas but nevertheless at the end of the day we

Speaker A

all here for one reason and i think is the most important reason the opportunity because we have the opportunity to change you know our families the future of our children and the next generations and more importantly we are joining the american

Speaker A

dream because this is what this country offers us the american dream that is still alive and well and of course you know in my case well i came to to dallas because prince charming happened to be from a place called

Speaker A

oakcliff in dallas you know and at the time i have just graduated from dental school in mexico and he had just graduated from law school here in houston so when he proposed you know we knew someone had to

Speaker A

move right so being first i said hey honey why don't you move to mexico and he told me elba in mexico there's a lot of mexican lawyers you know millions of them but if you come to dallas guess how many bilingual

Speaker A

latina dentists are right here and of course i'm talking i'm telling this story 30 years later you know he said you know there's only a few and your spanish is pretty darn good you know so hey not knowing too much i say dallas

Speaker A

texas oh cliff wherever you are here i come and i knew it was going to be hard because my english was good enough for you know go shopping big mac medium fries small coke you know that was not going to take me

Speaker A

very far but nevertheless i had the opportunity and i had to dream and my dream was to become a dentist here in the united states so i started where most of us started and i know i'm preaching to the choir at the central

Speaker A

college right here a few blocks away english 101 and i enrolled also in the dental assisting program i figured that if i could not work as a dentist i could work as a dental assistant right so here i was you know and i'm not going to

Speaker A

say because i know that you know how hard it is i always say that until you learn all the language you don't know the culture and that is true so it was very interesting the first few years to be in

Speaker A

a conversation when you thought they were talking about food and they were talking about something completely different you know but little by little i was able to pass all the tests that the dental college required for foreign dentists

Speaker A

and i was accepted at baylor college of dentistry and well after i got to baylor the rest is pretty much history i graduated and and i was able to become a dentist right here as i always dream in the united

Speaker A

states of america and start working with community dental care which was which is still a group that does non-profit for dental care and as i start working in with children who takes the children to the dentist moms and dads so i started

Speaker A

learning more and more about government about how important it was to have laws and ordinances that you know tell us what should we do in case of emergency how to deal with the police department with animal control with the

Speaker A

streets with trash with rec centers et cetera et cetera so i'm starting getting more and more curious about government and eventually after i left community dental care and i opened my own practice hey i have people coming and asking me

Speaker A

questions about government that i have to go and research and it came to a point that you know people will call my office and say hey is my crown ready well i think we should have it next week

Speaker A

oh how about my complaint about the trash department you know and it started to be known pretty quickly that hey it was just a matter of time as i get more and more involved with my church with the

Speaker A

greater dallas hispanic chamber of commerce someone said you need to run for office you know we need someone that can go ahead and move some of the payments that we need in some of the small business enterprise office

Speaker A

so hey as i start thinking about running for office because i have to tell you if you asked me i was going to be a dentist and that was going to be the you know my main focus in life my family

Speaker A

and of course my husband so when i asked my um my kids do you think i should run for office they say mom one of them i still remind him that he is the one who told me to

Speaker A

run for office you know he says mom you love to complain you will be perfect you know so the rest is history i ran for a city council and i love to be here in this building because it's really

Speaker A

where things happen all the time and well we were able to do a lot of things that i'm very proud of not only about the latino cultural senate but ordinances that i'm not going to talk too much about it because i know

Speaker A

here are the people that today represent you doing those changes but um i have to say that it was the opportunity every single time in my life when i have been when i when i have done something that

Speaker A

is important not only to me but as a community the opportunity has been there and this is what the american citizens give us the opportunity to go to school the opportunity to make changes the opportunity to open a business the

Speaker A

opportunity to own your own house the opportunity to run for office the opportunity to make the next generations and this city and this state of our world so after i left city hall i was elected as a commissioner

Speaker A

again the opportunity presented and yes i have heard many times but you're a woman but you're a latina but you're a minority but you are an immigrant but you have an accent i have an accent oh gosh i never noticed that i guess i

Speaker A

don't hear myself but with that being said what was the point that was there again the opportunity the working hard which i know you know how to do and more importantly the perseverance to know that you can make

Speaker A

it and that is also opportunity so what i want to leave you with today is that you have the power now as an american citizen to change things you know i encourage you today you know mi familia bota is here

Speaker A

registered to vote it's a non-partisan civic group and of course it is important that your voice is heard and through your vote is where you can make that voice here i always say you know that voting is the most important right

Speaker A

that you have as an american citizen because it gives you the power to change things and hey and your new country needs to hear your voice you know local government is very important is where what affects you every day happens when you wake up in

Speaker A

the morning what's the first thing you do of course brushing your teeth right so you open that faucet what does that means water which is by the city you go and pick up your newspaper sidewalks the city you go to the rec center to work

Speaker A

out the city you go to you know you have an emergency the city you have to call the police the city every single time when the moment you're born until the moment you die you know the city and your county will be

Speaker A

involved when it comes about help when it comes to the courts when it comes to a lot of their secondary resources the county is there so local elections are very important for you to participate because it's where everything that affects your daily

Speaker A

life including the education of our kids is local and then of course you know not only do we need your boys to be here get involved and when people say well what did you mean dr garcia by getting involved

Speaker A

know your elected office your elected officials go to your town hall meetings tell them what you think i mean the best ideas that i heard always come from my constituents and of course my patients you know um sell be ready to

Speaker A

volunteer and it doesn't have to be in a political campaign you can volunteer at your animal shelter at your library you can volunteer at the homeless shelter there's so many opportunities for you to get involved and make a difference

Speaker A

you'll be amazed how much change one person can make when you get involved and you know this is what makes our country special and through history we have seen that our country renews itself through immigrants the new voices the new ideas the new

Speaker A

energy that makes and blend with our american culture so my friends congratulations again you have the opportunity because you are america's renewal of the future so muchisimas gracias gracias [Applause] thank you county commissioner garcia for your comments those are very very

Speaker A

uplifting at this time we are to the end of the ceremony and on behalf of united states citizenship and immigration services my fellow american citizens it's nice to say that again congratulations [Applause] as americans we are not united by

Speaker A

background race or religion but rather by our common citizenship which is based on democratic ideals equal and individual rights and shared responsibilities upon taking the oath of allegiance you have joined a long legacy of americans who have contributed to the

Speaker A

vibrancy and success of this country as you are now part of this special legacy i encourage you to use your talents and skills each day to build a stronger and brighter america for all here today and for the future

Speaker A

generations to come along with all the rights you now have comes the responsibilities of citizenship embrace your new responsibilities by making positive contributions to your community and to the nation the united states welcomes you and as fully vested members of this great

Speaker A

nation may you chart a successful path on your new journey as citizens of the united states of america again congratulations at this time one of the most important parts of the day is your presentation of your certificates [Applause]

Speaker A

all right ladies and gentlemen as i call your name if you hear name or something similar to it please come forward to receive your certificate and then shake hands with uh the elected officials here jacqueline compost and then just take a seat back in your

Speaker A

chair please come forward to receive your certificate jessica samara [Applause] evangeline dimitrio [Applause] ada stole [Applause] gwen [Applause] claudia valerio guzman [Applause] [Applause] jose castillo zavala matisse johnny [Applause] maria vega karen meiber [Applause] hotel guadalupe agunga [Applause] fatina el circle

Speaker A

[Applause] suffer a circle [Applause] jose soto lara [Applause] by thresher [Applause] kibo terasaki [Applause] [Applause] libby vargasi [Applause] david guerrero [Applause] rosa hernandez razzo [Applause] golem mabub [Applause] future near hussein [Applause] kunal madnani [Applause] syed nasser pili marisa

Speaker A

valastros [Applause] i and at this time i'd like to introduce christina da silva for the closing remarks in adjournment [Applause] thank you so much first i want to just say a few uh thank yous i want to say a

Speaker A

huge thanks to united states citizenship and immigration services for letting us collaborate to host the ceremony and celebrate our newest dallas residents u.s citizens um so thank you so much and also thank you so much to the city councilors city council omar

Speaker A

navis was here earlier deputy pro tem jaime hersendes city councilor carl vendelson and city councilor paul ridley thank you so much for coming here and helping us elevate this opportunity and also thank you so much sarah so dania thank you so much for

Speaker A

coming finally i want to also say huge thanks to all the city departments that came together to make this event happen there were so many people behind the scenes helping with parking helping with security we also have some incredible

Speaker A

welcoming task force members that stood up and helped with setting up and making sure that the space was comfortable and also making sure that everyone knew where to go um we also i also had a couple announcements first um there are some

Speaker A

light refreshments for you outside just right on the table that you're all welcome to enjoy and then also finally echoing what commissioner elba garcia mentioned right outside these doors is where we're going to be asking everyone to exit there will be volunteers who

Speaker A

will be helping who are available to help you with getting registered to vote so i really highly recommend you have the opportunity starting now to become registered voters so really want to encourage you all to get access to that

Speaker A

and then finally i want to just say thank you so much to all the candidates here who became citizens i want to remind you all not only are you historic members of your family but you're also historic members of our

Speaker A

community of our city it's been 30 years since we've hosted a ceremony here and this ceremony is actually going to be recorded in our archives forever so your future generations will always be able to see the records see you come up and

Speaker A

receive your certificate of naturalization so i just want to hope i just hope that you remember that and hope that we stay connected with um with your city dallas government um so that we can as commissioner albert garcia

Speaker A

mentioned make our communities better so thank you and that concludes our ceremony have a hand cranked your battery powered emergency

Topics:naturalization ceremonyUS citizenshipUSCISoath of allegianceDallasimmigrationElba Garciacivic participationAmerican dreamPledge of Allegiance

Get More with the SozAI App

Transcribe recordings, audio files, and YouTube videos — with AI summaries and speaker detection. 30 minutes free.

App Store Google Play

Or transcribe another YouTube video here →

Free tools: TXT to SRT · SRT Validator · Merge SRT · Subtitle to Text · All tools