This election year, illegal immigration has often been a talking point. So much so, it’s easy to lose sight of the country’s legal immigration process. In 2014, the U.S. welcomed almost 700,000 new citizens. It’s not an easy process, and for many it takes years.
At Scotchtown, the plantation home of Patrick Henry outside Richmond, a group of about 100 has gathered under a white tent. It’s mid-September and the summer heat is still strong, but everyone is dressed professionally in suits and dresses.
A chorus group from a local high school stands in the front, singing the National Anthem.
For 60 people here today, this is the first time they’ve heard this anthem and been able to call it their own.
They come from around the world: Korea, El Salvador, Germany, India, and others. Today is the culmination of what has been, for some, a decades-long process. They have all lived here as a permanent residents for at least five years, demonstrated they can speak and read English, and passed a test on American government and history.
Standing together they recite an oath of allegiance many natural-born citizens have never heard. They swear to support and defend America’s constitution, to bear arms for their new country, and that they take “this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God."
With this oath, Carlos Gonzalez becomes both an American, and a Virginian.
“It’s like a dream, but I believe it,” says Gonzalez. “(America) is a big country and has big opportunities for everybody.”
Like Gonzalez, Juan Hernandez is also from El Salvador. He’s lived in America for 26 years. His wife has an interview to become a U.S. citizen in just a few days.
“I’m from El Salvador, but not anymore. I’m from United States now,” Hernandez says, smiling broadly. “I’m American now.”
Ibadi Karim was born in Iraq, but says America has saved his life.
“Because if I stay in my country, maybe killed, maybe dead,” Karim says. “America saved my life. Thank you, thank you so much America.”
As the ceremony concludes, a beaming woman in a bright pink headscarf takes her official certificate and a small American flag. She rushes over to three men, and they all hug her, and start taking photos.
Rafah Al Ameri is from Iraq. Eight years ago her husband was killed. She and her 12-year-old son moved to the United States.
“I was scared about him, that’s why I applied for citizenship here and came with my son,” says Al Ameri.
Here supporting her today is a group of friends she met at her local YMCA. She laughs, jokingly calling them her boyfriends.
“We work out in the morning at the Tuckahoe Y(MCA), and we sit around and drink coffee,” says one of the men. “We’ve gotten to know Rafah, and we told her if she passed the test then we would come to ceremony.”
When asked what she’s learned about America from her friends, Al Ameri says Americans are nice, and helpful.
“They love people, they welcome people, they help all the time people,” says Al Ameri.
Al Ameri’s son is now 20 and a junior at Virginia Commonwealth University. His own naturalization ceremony was just a few days after his mother’s.