The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services welcomed nearly 200 new citizens last Friday in Sioux Falls. Immigrants from all over the world took an Oath of Allegiance in the Washington Pavilion.
192 new Americans were officially welcomed to the United States at the Washington Pavilion. Judge Veronica Duffy presided over the ceremony and Deputy Clerk Jenny Stevens administered the oath.
One of those new citizens is Costa Mpunga Bwanya, originally from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He’s been in the country for nearly two decades trying to obtain his citizenship.
“It’s a long time coming, I’ve been here for 20 years," Mpunga Bwanya said. "I’m eager to vote, I’m eager to cast my voice and how I feel.”
Voting in the 2020 election was a major focus of the ceremony with the League of Women Voters in the lobby of the Pavilion to help the new citizens register to vote.
Mpunga Bwanya says the environment surrounding the event is very warm.
“It’s more welcoming than some make it out to be," Mpunga Bwanya said. "At the end of the day, as long as you’re a law-abiding citizen, that makes it easier on yourself.”
He says his idea of the American Dream is being authentic and true to yourself.
“Basically, accomplishing anything that you want, being able to voice your opinion, and how you feel, and be able to be the person that you want to be instead of what everyone else wants you to be.”
The USCIS naturalized more than 800,000 people across the country in 2019.