The judges of the U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida, Jacksonville Division, working with the Department of Homeland Security - U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and the University of North Florida Hicks Honors College, conducted a naturalization ceremony at UNF on Nov. 19.
More than 500 people, including about 250 students enrolled in the Hicks Honors College First Year Colloquium: National Identity and Migration Course, were witnesses.
“This ceremony provided hundreds of UNF students the opportunity to witness a live civics lesson. Our students’ participation in the American democratic process takes education beyond the classroom and into the real world,” Scott Brown, interim dean of the Hicks Honors College, said in a news release.
Chief U.S. District Judge for the Middle District of Florida Marcia Morales Howard administered the Oath of Citizenship to 49 Northeast Florida residents.
Swearing allegiance to the U.S. is the final step in the process through which an immigrant becomes a citizen.
“Hosting a naturalization ceremony at UNF provides an opportunity to show these students the dedication, commitment and resilience it takes to become an American citizen,” Howard said.
The new American citizens range in age from 19 to 78 and originated from Afghanistan, Albania, Bahamas, Belarus, Brazil, Burma, China, Colombia, Cuba, Dominica, Ecuador, Haiti, Honduras, Hungary, India, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Lithuania, Netherlands, Pakistan, Philippines, Portugal, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine, Venezuela and Vietnam.