By Lisa Daniel
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, July 4, 2012 – Twenty-five
U.S. service members filed through the White House East Room today in dress
uniforms, proudly displaying their service and sacrifices to America, and took
their citizenship oath before their commander in chief.
They were among more than 4,000
soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines who became U.S. citizens during
Independence Day ceremonies also held at U.S. military installations in
Kandahar, Afghanistan; Seoul, South Korea; Las Vegas; Miami; Tegucigalpa,
Honduras; and San Diego.
Obama said it brought him “great joy and
inspiration” to conduct the ceremony on America’s 236th birthday. “It reminds
us that we are a country that is bound together not simply by ethnicity or
bloodlines, but by fidelity to a set of ideas,” he said.
“As members of our military, you raised
your hand and took an oath of service,” he continued. “It is an honor for me to
serve as your commander in chief. Today, you raised your hand and have taken an
oath of citizenship. And I could not be prouder to be among the first to greet
you as ‘my fellow Americans.’"
Obama addressed the service members and
their families in a late morning ceremony as White House staff prepared for an
evening barbeque for military members and their families that will include
viewing the annual Fourth of July fireworks over the Washington Monument.
The president noted various evolutions
throughout the nation’s history, and pointed out that what began as “a ragtag
army of militias and regulars” –has become “the finest military that the world
has ever known.”
The service members arrived in America
in different ways – some as children, and some as adults, Obama noted. “All of
you did something profound,” he said. “You chose to serve. You put on the
uniform of a country that was not yet fully your own. In a time of war, some of
you deployed into harm’s way. You displayed the values that we celebrate every
Fourth of July: duty, responsibility and patriotism.”
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration
Services Director Alejandro Mayorkas presided over the White House ceremony,
and noted that he was a refugee who became a naturalized U.S. citizen. “These
25 exceptional individuals took an oath to support and defend the Constitution
before sharing fully in the rights and opportunities it provides,” he said. “We
are all inspired by their commitment to freedom and service to preserve our
great nation.”
Homeland Security Secretary Janet
Napolitano delivered the Oath of Allegiance. “Today, you have earned all the
rights and responsibilities that come with being a citizen of the United
States,” she said. “America is now your country. You have worked so hard to get
here. You should be just as proud of this achievement as I am to call you my
fellow citizen.”
More than 80,000 U.S. service members
have become American citizens since 2001, Napolitano said. “Our nation thanks
you for your service,” she told the new citizens. “We owe the freedoms we all
enjoy to the sacrifices of men and women like you.”
The Homeland Security Department is
working with the Defense Department to expand a process that began in 2009 to offer
noncitizen enlistees the opportunity to become naturalized citizens before
completing basic training “so that they can graduate as naturalized citizens,”
Napolitano said.
“We will continue to do all that we can
to expedite the naturalization process for those like you who have sacrificed
so much,” she added.
Army Spc. Oluwatosin Akinduro immigrated
to Houston from Lagos, Nigeria, with his parents when he was 6. He said he is
the first in his family to become a U.S. citizen and that he hopes to lead by
example, both in the military and in his personal life.
“My family is very proud of me today,”
he said. “I’m a little nervous, speechless. This is something I’m doing for
myself and my family.”
After graduating from high school,
Akinduro played football for Rutgers University in New Jersey and hoped to play
professionally. When that goal wasn’t realized, he said, he joined the Army and
plans to make it his career.
“I have my head up, my chest out, and
I’m just so proud of what I’m doing,” he said. I come from a very proud
background. I don’t believe in fear too much. With my background, I always
believed I could do anything I put my mind to.”
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