At Las Vegas City Hall, American flags waved freely by those who were eager to take the Oath of Allegiance to become U.S. citizens. More than 70 individuals hailing from more than 33 countries were sworn in as they were surrounded by friends, family and special guests.

The ceremony was presided over by U.S. District Court Judge Lloyd D. George and included remarks by Mayor Oscar B. Goodman and Chief Alonso Aguilar of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Office of Citizenship. Two of the newly sworn citizens also made brief remarks to the crowd. 

This was a unique court proceeding, because the media are generally not allowed to videotape inside federal courtrooms, but were allowed to do so during this Las Vegas ceremony. This allowed for the program to be taped by KCLV Cable Channel 2 and rebroadcast several times. Individuals were able to watch the video on KCLV, while friends and relatives from around the world could log into the city’s Web site to view a video stream of the proceedings.

The event is one of numerous “Celebrate Citizenship, Celebrate America” ceremonies that USCIS hosted during the July 4th week.  In all, USCIS celebrated our nation’s 230th birthday by welcoming more than 18,000 new American citizens. Each year, USCIS welcomes more than 600,000 citizens during naturalization ceremonies across the United States. Included in those numbers are more than 25,000 members of the armed forces who have naturalized through an expedited process related to their military service.