50 Immigrants From 22 Nations Become U.S. Citizens In A Ceremony Before.....

[George II]

50 Immigrants From 22 Nations Become U.S. Citizens In A Ceremony Before The Fourth Of July Yard Goats Game

Home plate at Dunkin’ Donuts Park was briefly transformed into a federal courtroom on Wednesday as 50 people from 22 nations took the oath of allegiance and became United States citizens.

A crowd gathered for the day’s Hartford Yard Goats game cheered as the new citizens received certificates of citizenship from U.S. Magistrate Judge Donna F. Martinez and shook the hands of U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal and Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin.

“This is one of the most beautiful sights I see, you citizens on the Fourth of July in a baseball stadium,” Blumenthal told the new citizens and their families. “It doesn’t get any better.”

Martinez, Blumenthal and Bronin talked about the nation’s history and the important role immigrants have played.

“I look at you and I see my dad,” Blumenthal continued. “My father came to this country in 1935. He was 17 years old. He was alone. He spoke no English. He had not much more than the shirt on his back and he knew virtually no one. This country gave him a chance to succeed.”

The United States is the greatest nation in the history of the world, Blumenthal said, because it is a nation of immigrants.

“Let no one ever forget,” he said. “We are a nation of immigrants and we ought to be building bridges to other countries rather than walls.”

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http://www.courant.com/breaking-news/hc-new-citizens-on-july-4-0705-story.html