 Please welcome to the stage Sarah Taylor, Washington District Director of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. David Ferriero, Archivist of the United States. Ken Cuccinelli, Acting Director of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. United States Secretary of Transportation Elaine L. Chow. Ladies and gentlemen, the Vice President of the United States and the Second Lady of the United States, Mrs. Karen Pence. First and foremost, congratulations to our 50 candidates for citizenship. Today we're here to celebrate your new citizenship, which happens to be on another very special day, Independence Day. And it's a great honor for us to have the Vice President of the United States, Mike Pence, here with us today to celebrate your American citizenship. Thank you to Secretary Elaine Chow and Acting Director Ken Cuccinelli for joining us also. We have with us Senator James Langford and Congressman Mark Meadows and his wife Debbie, Congressman Mike Turner and his daughter Carolyn. So welcome to all of you. The National Archives is proud to host this naturalization ceremony with the Vice President, the Office of the Vice President and the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. There's no better place to become an American citizen than here in this room. Behind me, the Constitution, which remains the basis on which our federal government is structured. The preamble contains three important words, we, the people. That brief phrase is the essence of our democracy. The Constitution gives the power to the people. To my left is the Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments to the Constitution. These amendments are the basic personal rights and freedoms guaranteed to you and every American citizen, which you will exercise every day. And to my right is the Declaration of Independence, the parchment that our founding fathers signed in 1776 in Philadelphia. Setting us free from England. 243 years ago today, Congress approved the final text of the Declaration. It took courage for them to sign it. They risked their lives, their families' lives and all they owned. And we have them to thank for the freedoms we enjoy today. These three documents, these charters of freedom, make up our foundation as U.S. citizens. I am the grandson of Italian immigrants and great-grandson of Irish immigrants. Using passenger lists here at the National Archives, I discovered that my grandfather, Paolo Ferriero, at age 15, arrived from Boston from Naples aboard the ship Commonwealth on March 22, 1903. My grandmother, Antonia Giorgio, also from Naples, arrived on March 8, 1909 aboard the Romantic. My great-grandfather, David Buckley, arrived in Boston from County Cork in 1883. He petitioned to become a U.S. citizen in 1892 in Salem, Massachusetts. Many Americans have stories like mine, and now you, our newly naturalized citizens, will have your own journey to share. We have over 15 billion pages of records here at the National Archives. Becoming American citizens makes you part of the National Archives. Your naturalization records will be a part of our holdings, and someday your descendants will search our records to discover your history. Right after this ceremony ends, our annual Fourth of July celebration begins outside, and I invite you to join us for our spirited reading of the Declaration of Independence. Afterwards, the National Independence Day Parade will start in front of our Constitution Avenue steps at 1145, and feel free to stay all day for lots of hands-on activities for all ages, not to mention the air conditioning. On July 4, we enjoy hot dogs and cookouts. Many enjoy a day off, but tonight and for every American Fourth to come, when you watch the fireworks, I hope that you will remember our founding fathers who were willing to fight for our country and for our freedom. I encourage you as new citizens to be active in government, to vote, and to continue to fight for freedom. And now I'd like to welcome Sarah Taylor, USCIS Washington District Director. Good morning. To officially begin today's naturalization ceremony, I would like everyone to please stand for the singing of the national anthem. Jürgen Poth was born in Heidelberg, Germany. When he was eight months old, he was adopted from a Catholic orphanage by an American military couple. They named him Roger McGee. Later, at the age of five, with other children from around the world, he became a United States citizen in a citizenship ceremony in Mobile, Alabama. Roger loves his German heritage, but is extremely grateful for his country, the United States of America, for growing up in Alabama and for living in Alexandria for the past 25 years. Please welcome Mr. McGee. Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's glass gleaming Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming And the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air Gave that our flag was still. Oh, say does that star-spangled banner Mr. Ken Cuccinelli, Acting Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, for him to administer the oath of allegiance. Mr. Cuccinelli was named Acting Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services June 10, 2019. He served as Virginia's Attorney General from 2010 to 2014. He also served in the Senate of the State of Virginia from 2002 to 2010. Candidates for naturalization, when you hear your country of current nationality call, please stand and remain standing. Afghanistan, Argentina, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Canada, China, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Honduras, India, Iraq, Latvia, Mexico, Morocco, Nepal, Pakistan, Peru, Sierra Leone, South Korea, and Vietnam. Mr. Cuccinelli, I present to you 44 candidates representing 26 countries who have applied to become citizens of the United States. Each of the candidates has been interviewed by an officer of USCIS, and unless exempted by the law, has demonstrated the ability to read, write, and speak words in the English language. Each has demonstrated his or her knowledge and understanding of the history and principles and form of government of the United States. Mr. Cuccinelli, I recommend that these candidates be administered the oath of allegiance, thereby admitting them to United States citizenship. Thank you, Sarah. Ladies and gentlemen, as the Acting Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, it is my privilege, and it is a privilege to administer the oath of allegiance to the candidates for naturalization assembled here today. Candidates for naturalization, please raise your right hand and repeat after me. I hereby declare on oath that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state or sovereignty of whom or which I have here to forebend a subject or citizen that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same, that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law, that I will perform noncombatant service in the armed forces of the United States when required by the law, that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law, and that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion. So help me God. Congratulations, you are America's newest citizen. I would ask everyone to please remain standing, and as your first official act as American citizens, I invite you all to join me in the saying of the Pledge of Allegiance as we face the flag behind me. So please stand and face the flag with your hand over your heart. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Please take your seats. First of all, on behalf of the men and women of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, it is my honor to be the first person to address you all as my fellow Americans. It is a distinct privilege for me to join you and take part in such an important milestone in your lives. I'm proud to welcome you as America's newest citizens, as individuals who've made a commitment to this greatest of nations, and I'm confident you will dedicate yourself to exercising your new rights and fully meeting your responsibilities as U.S. citizens, all while making positive contributions to the communities in which you live and your new nation. Congratulations again and thank you. It's now my privilege to introduce the Secretary of Transportation, Elaine Chao. Secretary Chao once sat where you sit, only a couple of years ago when she was 19 years old, and she looks exactly the same as she did on that day. Secretary Chao served as the 24th U.S. Secretary of Labor from 2001 to 2009, giving her the distinction of being the first Asian-American woman to be appointed to the President's Cabinet in our history, and you will note those years are not the current years. That was only her first time in a President's Cabinet. On January 31st of 2017, she was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the 18th U.S. Secretary of Transportation, the position she still holds today, her second Cabinet position. And as I said, like you, Secretary Chao is a naturalized citizen, and I particularly appreciate on behalf of USCIS that Secretary Chao has repeatedly participated in these ceremonies, and she is such a special person in terms of government official who can come and speak to where you all are today. She arrived in America at the age of eight, speaking no English, and received her citizenship, as I said, at the age of 19, and her experience transitioning to a new country has motivated her to dedicate most of her professional life to ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to build better lives, especially here in America. In 2008, USCIS recognized Secretary Chao as an outstanding American by choice, an initiative at our agency that honors the outstanding achievements and commitments of naturalized U.S. citizens. She received this recognition thanks to her dedication to public service and her continual efforts to promote and protect the health and competitiveness of our nation's workforce and to ensure that people have the opportunity to achieve financial independence. Secretary Chao, it is a genuine honor to have you here with us today, and the podium is yours. Thank you, Ken. And also, I want to once again thank Senator Langford, Congressman Metals, Congressman Turner, for being here on this very special day. And to our new citizens, wow! You're so lucky to have the ceremony at the National Archives, home of the founding documents of the United States, on America's Independence Day, and presided over by the Vice President of the United States. Wow! This is an extraordinarily emotional day, and I got quite teary sitting over there listening to all this, because to our new citizens, your journey is the American journey, and it's shared by so many. And I hope you'll let me share a little bit of my journey, because as you can see, I'm an American of Chinese heritage. My parents are born in China, and at the height of the Civil War, they immigrated to Taiwan. My father became one of the youngest sea captains at the age of 29, but life was really difficult, and he was often away for months at a time. So to seek a better life, he took the national examinations, scored number one, and broke all the records. This gave him the opportunity to go to America to study. My mother was then seven months pregnant with their third child. They didn't know how long it would be before they would be reunited, but my mother was so brave, and she encouraged him to seek a better life for all of us. We were separated for three long years. When my father was finally able to send for us, the only passage he could afford was on a cargo ship. Our initial years in America, I don't have to tell you, was very difficult. We didn't speak English, couldn't eat the food. We didn't have family or friends nearby. Somebody understood that. My father worked three jobs to make ends meet, and I remember my first year as a third grader at school. Every year I would sit in the classroom, every day I would sit in the classroom, not understanding a word of English, and I would copy everything on the blackboard onto my little notebook. And every night, after a long day of work, my father would come home, sit with me at midnight, and translate that day's lesson, and that's how I learned English. But throughout those challenging years, my parents never lost faith that America was a land of hope and opportunity, and that our futures would someday be bright. I can still remember to this day when I received my citizenship, and that's why I'm emotional here as well. But as I mentioned, your story, my story, and so many others, the arc of this story, are part of the American experience. And I know you've worked so hard. You've sacrificed so much to enable your families to have better futures. And I am here to affirm to you that your sacrifices are worth it. This country is a great country, and it will offer tremendous opportunities and freedom to you and your loved ones. Your family will have wonderful futures in this country. So congratulations on becoming an American citizen. I told you I'm a little teary, but now it is my great honor to introduce our keynote speaker, the Vice President of the United States, Mike Pence. He is a leader of great integrity, integrity, and integrity, faith, compassion and decency. And he and his beautiful wife, the second lady, Karen Pence, have devoted their lives to serving others. We are all so lucky to have them here with us today, so please join me in giving a warm welcome to the Vice-President of United States, Mike Pence. Thank you for those gracious words, but for your inspiring personal story and for sharing this moment with us today. To Senator Langford, to Congressman Turner, to Congressman Meadows, to our Acting Director Kuchinelli, to Archivist David Ferriero, the members of the National Archives Board. It is deeply humbling. For Karen and me to be with you today, here in this place, on the hallowed ground of our National Archives, to celebrate the 4th of July with 44 new Americans. Congratulations to you all. It is amazing to be standing here today before all of you. And to be able to extend the welcome of the American people to your new place in this nation as citizens. And it's remarkable to think of the journey you've traveled on. You come from 26 different countries. We heard them called in the role that Bolivia and Morocco, Vietnam, and Mexico and Afghanistan. I'm also told you come from just about every walk of life. There's an electrician among you, a banker. There's a college counselor, an IT engineer, and even an Uber driver. But all of you aspired to be Americans. You stepped forward. You followed the law. You went through the process to immigrate into this great nation. And as of today, the men and women gathered before me today who just raised their right hand have now joined the ranks of the freest and most prosperous nation in the history of the world. But the 44 of you and your families are hardly alone. Last year, more than three-quarters of a million people raised their right hand and swore the very same oath that you just took. Your example and theirs gives evidence that then as now and throughout our nation's history, America has the most generous system of legal immigration in the history of the world. And we are proud to have you join our ranks. Now, as fellow Americans, you'll be a part of many debates in the life of this nation, including debates over immigration in America. And we all know that our current system of immigration faces real challenges. But to those of you who stepped forward today, who made the sacrifices and went through the process, let me say on behalf of President Donald Trump and on behalf of the American people, welcome to the American family. But like those who've spoken before, it is humbling to stand before you, but it's almost indescribable for this American to be flanked by these extraordinary documents. Because here, we are surrounded by the three great founding documents of this great nation, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States and the Bill of Rights, that very Constitution that you just swore an oath to uphold and defend is behind me, as we speak. And it was forged in the fires of the American founding. It is remarkable to think of the courage and the tenacity of those who crafted these documents. And on a day like today, as we look at their images on the walls above us, I think it's important that we remember their story. When we study history, we often forget that those who were living, it didn't know what was on the next page. And they risked all. The signers of the Declaration of Independence, 56 delegates to the Continental Congress, that adopted that Declaration of Independence 243 years ago today, pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor. And it was not just words. It's remarkable to think that when those 56 delegates signed that Declaration of Independence, the largest city in America then had a population of 40,000 people. And that was the city of Philadelphia. And at the very moment that those delegates were asked to sign their names to that document, an armada of British soldiers, 32,000 in strength, was sailing into New York Harbor with one order, and that was to put down the rebellion in the American colonies. In fact, history records that anyone who was to sign a Declaration of Independence by order of the king was to be hanged by the neck until they were dead. They risked all for us and for you to be able to have this moment. By the end of the Revolutionary War of the 56 who signed the Declaration of Independence, five were captured by the British Army during war. Many lost family members, and many were left destitute and impoverished, even though they came from some of the most prosperous families in the colonies before the war. I mean, the very idea that the Continental Army, which was led by a man who had never commanded more than 2,000 troops, would be able to defeat the army of the most powerful empire on the planet, was unthinkable. In fact, when the British did finally surrender to George Washington at Yorktown after six long years of war, all the military band could think to play was a song entitled The World Turned Upside Down, for surely it was. In the early years, they forged freedom first with an Articles of Confederation and then with this extraordinary constitution in Bill of Rights. There's that famous story at the close of the Constitutional Convention when Benjamin Franklin was walking out of Independence Hall in Philadelphia. A woman approached him and asked these words, "'Well, Doctor, what have we got? "'A Republic or a Monarchy?' And Benjamin Franklin replied, "'Echoing into history a Republican, Madam, "'if you can keep it.' And so we have the adoption of the Bill of Rights and in all of the many years since we've kept it. And now it's yours. You're inheriting a legacy purchased at a high price. Men and women through the generations have risked all, have laid down their lives to ensure the continued success and vitality. The document or the government forged in these documents. And now in those stirring words of the oath you took, now it's also yours to support and uphold and defend if necessary. It's a remarkable thing. So the new Americans gathered here. I submit that as you continue to study the history of your new home, you will learn that over more than two centuries that in the American experiment, freedom is not for the faint of heart. It requires vigilance, sacrifice, sacrifice on behalf of citizens to maintain it. And as you yourselves have demonstrated even up to this moment, as we cherish our freedom, our freedom continues to inspire the world. Millions over the generations now who you've joined who've come to these shores and nations around the world who aspire to be like us. Well, you've heard stories from this podium about immigrant families, from the nation's archivist and from the secretary, but I'll tell you one more story. It was on April 11th, 1923 that an Irish immigrant named Richard Michael Colley stepped off the boat onto Ellis Island in New York City. He immigrated to this country. He became an American citizen. He took the train to New York City. He drove a bus for 40 years and raised a wonderful family. The story of his family was a story of, as a legend that his mother walked him across the street from their modest home in Ireland and walked him up the hill and pointed in the direction of the Ox Mountains into the west and said, you have to go to America because there's a future there for you. Well, I stand before you today as that future. That man was my grandfather and I'm his namesake. He raised a precocious red head up there in Chicago and she married a fast-talking salesman who built a gas station business down in a small town in Indiana. And that's where I and my three brothers and two sisters showed up. On the day that I raised my right hand just a few years ago and took part of the oath you just took to serve in the role in which I'm privileged to serve right now, I had many things in my heart in mind that day. But my mind kept going back to my grandfather, to his courage to be able to leave everything behind, everything he knew, family and hearth and home and come here because it was a future, because he believed in the American dream. And I was up on that platform just down the street by the Capitol building in January of 2017, thinking that Richard Michael Cawley and his courage is the only reason that Michael Richard Pence became the 48th Vice President of the United States. I share that with you just to encourage you because we all know the sacrifices that you've made, not just to become citizens, but to join us and we commend you for it. But now as your Vice President and as a fellow American, let me at least leave you with this charge. You have become citizens in the freest and most prosperous nation in the history of the world. But as the good book says, to whom much is given, much will be required. So be prepared to exercise your prerogatives as free men and women as citizens of the United States of America in a way that will benefit your family, your community, your state and your nation throughout your life. Find a way to give back for all that you've been given. Raise a great family. Build a business. Be a good neighbor. Be a teacher. Be a public servant. Put on the uniform of law enforcement. Volunteer in a local service club. Be a school teacher. Or even serve in elective office. Live out your commitment to this country by creating more opportunity for your family and your fellow citizens. Live out the oath that you took today. By contributing to the life of this nation and use your newfound citizenship for good, for your good and for the good of the United States of America. In so doing, I promise you, you will have paid back all that's been bequeathed to you if you live a great American life. You've made a remarkable journey to arrive at this moment. And I know that you and your love funds will forever cherish this day. So will we. Today, with this solemn and sacred oath taken on these hallowed grounds, you've sworn to exercise and uphold the rights and responsibilities of citizenship. You've inherited a legacy of liberty that generations of Americans have paid for with their lives. And this legacy is now yours. Serve it well. And remember, finally, dream big. There are no dreams too big in the land of the free and the home of the brave. And you are now citizens of that great nation. So live your dreams. For the sake of yourselves, your families, your children, and your children's children. Go prosper, because in America, the sky's the limit. So once again, allow me and my wife to offer our heartfelt congratulations and welcome to 44 new American citizens. May God bless you, even as he blesses the United States. At this time, we are going to distribute to our new American citizens the paperwork. That your certificate of naturalization. And I'd invite the Vice President and Secretary Chow up front here to greet each of our newest citizens one at a time, as Mr. Taylor calls their names. And I will hand each of you your certificate. Achtron, Fatima Murad. Asagadesh, Alamayu, Jiru. Klee, Reza, Kadami. Enrique, Aranal, Fernandez. Saiku, Amadu, Diallo. Dayak, Binad, Gimre. Yewubanesh, Temescan, Adeba. Jose, Antelon, Herrera. Alejandro, Rosales, Zamora. Pedro, Alfredo, Rejas, Duran. Varun, Shaitakumar, Patel. Nabi, Bagesh. Jong-Chun, Yunei. Mohamed, Masad, Alom. Julia, Paide, Alvarado, Chavez. Forzin, Rizwan, Choudhury. Edmund, Michael, Carpenter. Jo, Jose, Viquez, Venegas. Donia, Syed, Salim, Syed. Trang, Khan, Tran. Janita, Janek, Patel. Hannah, Glenda, Frederick. Catherine, Ya, Asantewa, Larte. Tai, Fouk, Pham. Mirella, Stephanie, Saldana, Moreno. Shailaja, Kanal. Rajila, Zaman. Vinci, Biji, George. Jaisu, Yong, Shouaf. Anise, Belgian, Lovelace. Mustafa, Loe, Kasim. Martin, Davila, Leon. Mirian, Gabriela, Pagano. Mani, Ashelal, La Madado, Dado. Tanzima, Katun. Mario, Renee, Valle. Fatima, Zora, Benadada. Yusuf, Khan. Hyojin, Kim. Chaohong, Lu. Milton, Enrique, Ibarra. Gajendra, Singh, Saud. Mula, Mebet, Gatachu, Aiju. Jason, John, Fair. Let's have a round of applause for America's newest citizens. Please have a seat until the new citizens come back into the rotunda.