25 August 2023
WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — U.S. citizenship is one of those things many of us take for granted.
Many must apply and qualify for citizenship. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas welcomed almost 250 new American citizens Thursday in Wichita.
The exact number was 246 new citizens from 52 countries as big as Russia, Mexico, and Canada and as small as Haiti, Taiwan, and Sri Lanka.
The Naturalization Ceremony took place at Lowe Auditorium on the Wichita State campus.
“I’m excited. I’m very happy for this,” said Irma Mara after the ceremony.
“I feel very excited and proud of myself because I’m only the second one in the family to get to do the citizenship. But I’m really happy, in other words,” said Karla de la Torre of Wichita.
“Oh, I’m very excited, to be honest. I’m very, very excited and emotional the same way,” said Sadia J. Hossain.
“It feels great. It’s an opportunity. Not everybody gets the chance to become a citizen, you know,” said Belove Myrtil. “So, I feel good.”
Each of the new citizens was prescreened, filled out an application, fingerprinted, and interviewed, and some took a test. The final step in the process was taking the Oath of Allegiance.