On March 15th, Ulster County hosted the ceremony for new candidates becoming nationalized citizens of the United States.
Twenty four candidates from fifteen different countries took the oath at the Ulster County Court House. As usual it was a happy and moving event! Four League members participated: Nora Sherer, Deborah Marr, Cynthia Bell and Daisy Tyler.
Cynthia Bell included this in her report:
“Our fellow LWVMHR member and Ulster County Comptroller March Gallagher spoke so honestly and eloquently to the newly naturalized citizens that I was moved to ask for a copy of her notes so I could share with our newsletter readers.
She graciously sent the following:
“Welcome fellow brave new Americans. It’s my honor to be with you here today to express to you how encouraged I am to have you become citizens.
You are gaining citizenship at a time of great challenge for the United States of America. We face divisiveness and a lot of rhetoric about immigration that I want to address.
Our strength as a country has always come from the mosaic of our differences, our diversity. In Ulster County 7.2% of our population is foreign born and 11% of our community speaks a primary language other than English. As your Comptroller and the fiscal oversight for Ulster County, I can tell you that economists and financial analysts credit our immigration as an essential building block to our success as a nation.
Just last week Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank Jerome Powell submitted testimony to Congress that said “Strong job creation has been accompanied by an increase in the supply of workers, particularly among individuals aged 25 to 54, and a continued strong pace of immigration.” U.S. population increase in 2023 was driven by the most immigrants since 2001—and immigration will be the ‘main source of growth in the future.’
I am incredibly thankful for the sacrifice of my great grandparents who came to this county and worked plucking chickens and delivering newspapers. And thankful for the investments that federal, state and local government made in my family such as public education.
We will be making those investments in you. Your step in becoming a citizen today will better your life and your family’s life. At the same time, your citizenship will better our community. You are investing in us. I’m here to thank you for making that effort to bring your talent and resources as American Citizens. Thank you and welcome home.”
All members of the LWV (and the public) are welcome to participate in their county naturalization ceremonies, even if just an observer. It’s always worthwhile.”
