The Montclair Art Museum (MAM) will host 24 new U.S. citizens at a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Naturalization Ceremony on Friday, June 2. The Oath of Allegiance will be administered at 10 a.m. at Leir Hall on the grounds of the Montclair Art Museum in Montclair, N.J.
“We at USCIS are grateful to be able to honor our new citizens in a space as beautiful and welcoming at the Montclair Art Museum,” said U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Newark Field Office Director Randi Borgen. “Nothing speaks to the welcoming spirit of New Jersey like the wonderful venues that host naturalization ceremonies.”
“We are deeply honored that the Museum will serve as a venue for this ceremony,” said Lora Urbanelli, Director of the Montclair Art Museum. “There is no better place to welcome new citizens than an institution that embodies and celebrates freedom of expression, one of our most fundamental American rights.”
Field Office Director Borgen will administer the Oath of Allegiance to 24 candidates from 19 countries: Bangladesh, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Germany, Ghana, Guyana, Haiti, India, Iran, Jamaica, Mexico, Nigeria, Peru, Philippines, Sierra Leone, Syria, and Uruguay.
Mayor Robert Jackson of Montclair will deliver keynote remarks during the ceremony. MAM’s Registrar Osanna Urbay, who immigrated to the United States from Cuba with her family in 1966 and became a U.S. Citizen in 1972, will lead the Pledge of Allegiance. The Montclair Police Department Honor Guard will present the colors.
The USCIS invites new citizens and their families and friends to share their experiences from the ceremonies through Twitter, using the hashtag #newUSCitizen. MAM will also share the ceremony and the celebrations on its social media channels using the hashtag #MAMwelcomesyou
