With a baby strapped to her chest and a toddler running around her feet, Veronica Rowe watched her husband Peter John become a citizen. With that oath, John gained every right enjoyed by the rest of his U.S.-born family.
Among them, being able to vote in this fall’s election.
“To be able to participate in the American experiment is a really tangible thing,” he said. “I’m looking forward to doing that in the next couple of weeks.”
John came to the U.S. from Jamaica for school in 2018 and met his wife at the Rochester Institute of Technology. Graduate school at Regis University brought them to Denver. For the past six years, John has had to be sponsored for every job he worked, while at the same time, his wife sponsored him for his green card after they got married.
“I met him when I was 18 and it was game over. I knew he was my soulmate. For him to get citizenship means we’ll all definitely get to be together,” Mrs. Rowe said. “It’s really exciting after all his work, he’s made it to the finish line.”
John was among 29 people from 14 different countries who naturalized at the Boulder Public Library earlier this month. The ceremony took place during Constitution Week, a time set aside by the government to emphasize the nation’s founding principles, less than 50 days out from the election.
New citizens rapidly become new voters
After the official part of the ceremony, Bimal Koirala shared a quick round of hugs and celebration with his family who attended the commemoration, before shifting his focus to a new task: ensuring he can vote.
“Yes, I’m registering my name on the voter list. I’m very excited,” Koirala said. “I’m so happy to be a United States citizen.”
The League of Women Voters was present at the Boulder Library, with a station for the new citizens and their supporters to register, as well as handing out packages on how to vote. LWV estimates that 20 of the new citizens registered that same day through their services.
Marion Mackay, who has been a citizen since 2016, said in her 10 years of teaching citizenship classes, and even for herself, being able to vote is a big part of why people take this step.
"When we asked our students why they wanted to become citizens, almost all of them, that was their first answer, ‘I want to be able to vote,’ and that's a big part of being part of this country and contributing to it,” Mackay said during the ceremony. “At any rate, I encourage you all to vote. That's how you can really participate in this country. And also, there's lots of ways to volunteer, and that's a beautiful way to feel like you're part of the country that you're going to make your home.”
Many echoed her, saying that being able to participate in elections was a major incentive to becoming a citizen.
Stella Bellony and her father came to the U.S. nearly a decade ago, when Bellony was 17. The duo first immigrated to Florida from Haiti, and then she came to Colorado for graduate school. Both Bellony and her dad were permanent residents until she took the steps to become a citizen.
Permanent residents, also known as green card holders, have to renew their status every ten years. They aren’t allowed to vote in elections.
“For me, it was mainly about voting, participating in the right of the freedom that America offers,” Bellony said. “I think voting is the most essential part for me to participate in.”
Bellony plans on pushing her father to gain his citizenship as well.
Immigration is a big issue for many voters this year and has become a major talking point for the Republican Party in particular this election cycle.
Presidential nominee Donald Trump and his running mate JD Vance have targeted Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, and Venezuelans in Aurora, in particular. Trump has said, if elected, his plan for mass deportations would start in those cities. Many of the immigrants he’s targeting are in the country under Temporary Protected Status or have filed asylum claims.
But the politics of immigration weren’t something people celebrating their new citizenship, including some who’d come from Haiti and Venezuela, were eager to discuss.
Instead of speaking to those issues Bellony simply urged everyone who could to vote.
Citizenship is the culmination of a complicated process
There are three main ways someone becomes eligible for naturalization. Someone who has a permanent resident card can apply after five years of living and working in the U.S. For someone who marries a U.S. citizen, the waiting period drops to three years. But the quickest way for a lawful permanent resident to qualify for citizenship is to serve in the U.S. military; military members can apply after their first year of service.
The process of getting naturalized can be broken down into four main parts; submitting the application, clearing a background check, passing an interview and finally, taking the official oath of allegiance and celebrating at the ceremony.
The general application filing fee is $760, according to a federal fee calculator.
Andrew Lambrecht, field office director for the U.S. Citizens and Immigration Services office that includes Colorado, projects that his multi-state jurisdiction will welcome about 10,000 new citizens this year, with most of that number coming from Colorado.
“I just always find it amazing that the people who are becoming citizens are making the choice to do that. They don't have to become a citizen,” Lambrecht said. “You can be a permanent resident forever and enjoy a lot of the benefits of being in America.”
During the 2023 fiscal year, 878,500 new citizens were naturalized nationwide, according to the USCIS website.
“I know how hard it is to make the investment, save the money and be able to do it. It’s a big commitment,” Mackay, the citizenship instructor, said on stage at the Boulder ceremony. “I really honor all of you for being able to figure out how to do it.”
To have their citizenship application considered, a person must pass a background check conducted by USCIS, where they collect the applicant's fingerprints and run their name through the FBI’s database.
As part of qualifying for citizenship, applicants have to pass an English exam and a 10-question civics test that can cover everything from history to politics to geography. According to Lambrecht, a person needs to answer at least six of the questions correctly to pass.
Get through all of that and it’s a three-week wait, on average, before the applicant gets to participate in a naturalization ceremony and officially become a citizen of the United States.
Anita Stuehler, who organized the ceremony at the Boulder Public Library, has been teaching citizenship classes for nearly 20 years, something she got into from leading English conversation meetings there.
“What keeps me going is when you see the joy and the excitement and what it means to people. I look forward to this every week,” Stuehler said. “It's just incredible what some of them have gone through, and what they've had to struggle [through] to become a citizen.”
To cross the threshold into official citizenship, every person is required to say The Oath of Allegiance, where they promise their loyalty to the U.S. The oath was created in 1892 and has been said at every single naturalization ceremony since.
At that moment, new Americans are officially letting go of their home country to take on the full responsibilities of their new one.
“It's a hard choice. They have to take an oath of allegiance that gives their allegiance to the American government and then, in the eyes of the American government, they're giving up their allegiance to their former country,” Lambrecht said. “It’s not an easy thing to do.”
At the Boulder ceremony, after the oath, the new citizens were called up one by one to receive their certificate of citizenship. Some brandished small American flags, others paused to take photos with USCIS Section Chief, Scott Koenigsberg, on stage.
Just moments after receiving her certificate, as she filed out the forms that would make her not just an American, but a voter, Stella Bellony reflected on the significance of the day.
“It’s difficult for me to pinpoint my favorite moment right now,” she said. “Coming out of the ceremony, this all feels so surreal. It’s official.”
