They weren’t U.S. citizens at the start of the day, but 50 recently naturalized citizens are getting to celebrate the Fourth of July for the first time as Americans.
People from 31 countries gained citizenship Wednesday at a naturalization ceremony at Middletown City Hall on Wednesday.
Deb Moignard, originally from England, first stepped onto U.S. soil in 1963, when her dad took a job at Electric Boat in Groton.
“I figured it’s been about fifty years; it’s about time I became a citizen,” Moignard joked.
Przemyslaw Skiba came from Germany. Skiba, a manager at the East Side Restaurant in New Britain, says the significance of holding the ceremony today on July 3 is not lost on him. “It's a pleasure to celebrate the fourth of July as a citizen,” said Skiba.
One of the rights of becoming an American citizen is the right to vote. And so, as soon as the fifty new citizens were done taking the oath, they were directed right to a voter registration table.
But not all of these new Americans came from countries as safe and secure as England and Germany.
“We know that we are one of the lucky ones who are here not suffering what the people are suffering back home,” said Manal Chahrour of Syria.
She and her husband Maher Suede, an Ellington surgeon, see reports of the two-year plus massacre ongoing in their native country. It makes Wednesday’s ceremony with their three children safely by their side all the more special.
“It is the land of freedom, the land of opportunity,” said Suede.
It’s also the land of an ongoing debate in the halls of Congress where Senator Blumenthal, whose own father became a citizen after coming here at the age of 17, took part in the historic vote on the current immigration bill.
“On the floor of the Senate, I spoke about going to countless immigration ceremonies and visiting with these new citizens, their excitement, and their dedication to this country,” said the Senator.
But while the future dreams of many rest in the hand of federal legislators, for these fifty new Americans, the dream is finally a reality.
“It means freedom, it means liberty, it’s the best thing in the world,” said Moignard.