Northern Marianas College President Galvin Deleon Guerrero and Magistrate Judge Heather Kennedy poses with the 14 new U.S. citizens Thursday at the District Court for the NMI. Also in photo: U.S. Citizenship and Immigrations Services Officer Patricia Phelan.
FOURTEEN new U.S. citizens were sworn in during a naturalization ceremony at the District Court for the NMI on Thursday.
Presiding over the special court session, Magistrate Judge Heather Kennedy granted the motion of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Officer Patricia Phelan and welcomed the new U.S. citizens to the American family.
As guest speaker, Northern Marianas College President Galvin Deleon Guerrero, Ed.D. talked about the history of the U.S., its founding principles, and the challenges to the “American experiment [that] continues to this day.”
“The American experiment continues to be tested almost to the breaking point,” he said. “In this gamble we risk losing it all. But like in any gamble we can also win big, and that is what today is about. … You are the proof that the American experiment work is continuing.
“In your drive to become American citizens, you reaffirm our faith in that experiment. You have demonstrated your commitment to the proposition that all men and women are created equal. You express your belief in those values that we hold so dear, that we have a right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And you have asserted your resolve to keep working at that experiment, and so all that America stands for becomes real for you and becomes real for all,” Deleon Guerrero said.
“Yes, we may fail at times,” he added, “but we must never ever give up on this experiment.”
“As you all have heard in the Declaration of Independence, as Thomas Jefferson put it himself, ‘the price of liberty is eternal vigilance,’ and each of you have paid that price by working hard and waiting patiently until you yourself could take that oath declaring yourself as an American citizen,” Deleon Guerrero said. “Indeed, today is your Declaration of Independence like the founding fathers in 1776. … We join you in declaring to the whole world that the American experiment is here to stay. We are not going anywhere. Stand strong, stand proud, and stand up for your country, because it’s worth it.”
The new citizens are Estrella Figueroa Baysa, Rosalie Plata De Vera, Julie Arellano Hernandez, Orhan Deniz Kurtoglu, Marilou Babac Malasarte, Romeo Diesta Malasarte, Leonila Caberios Mendoza, Teogenes Yabut Mendoza, Ariel Germino Narvaez, Corazon Alata Padul, Lily Chong Tan, Yujiao Tang, Ernesto Dela Rosa Tanghal, and Hermilina Nuesca Tanghal.
