Released June 30, 2011

WASHINGTON—U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will commemorate America’s 235th birthday by welcoming more than 24,000 new citizens during naturalization ceremonies beginning on June 27 and leading up to Independence Day on July 4. Eight of the approximately 350 ceremonies across the United States and overseas will be held specifically for members of the U.S. armed forces.

“Every Fourth of July, we celebrate our country’s spirit of independence,” said USCIS Director Alejandro Mayorkas. “This spirit, and our founding ideals of freedom and democracy, have allowed us to achieve great success as a nation of immigrants. Immigrants come to America in search of opportunity and, by taking the Oath of Allegiance, embrace the rights and responsibilities of U.S. citizenship.”

The celebration of citizenship will include a July 1 ceremony aboard the USS Midway in San Diego, where 200 members of the military will naturalize in a tribute to Gulf War veterans.

Keeping with USCIS’s commitment to bring immigration services to the troops wherever they serve, members of the U.S. armed forces will take the Oath of Allegiance to become citizens at all-military ceremonies in Baghdad, Kabul, and Camp Arifjan, Kuwait.

In addition, USCIS will hold special ceremonies at Independence Hall in Philadelphia; the Jimmy Carter Library and Museum in Atlanta; McCoy Stadium in Pawtucket, R.I.; the National World War II Museum in New Orleans; the USS Constitution in Charlestown, Mass.; George Washington’s Mount Vernon Estate and Gardens in Mount Vernon, Va.; and SeaWorld in Orlando, Fla.