Thread: Disney to host citizenship ceremony

Disney to host citizenship ceremony

The Magic Kingdom will serve as backdrop when more than 1,000 immigrants swear allegiance to the United States as new citizens during a special Fourth of July naturalization ceremony at Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando.

It'll be the theme park's first mass naturalization ceremony, to be held on the forecourt of Cinderella Castle, according to a Walt Disney World media statement issued last week.

The ceremony will be the latest of several recent mass naturalizations, a reflection of the soaring number of citizenship applications being filed in advance of higher immigration service fees taking effect July 30.

Two weeks ago, more than 6,000 immigrants became U.S. citizens at two mass ceremonies at the Miami Beach Convention Center.

Federal immigration officials have said the number of citizenship applications is skyrocketing in Florida and across the nation, partly as a result of the coming sharp fee increase in which naturalization will cost $595 instead of the current $330.

Emilio González, director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, will swear in the 1,000 new citizens at Walt Disney World, according to the Disney statement.

Sen. Mel MartÃ*nez, R-Fla., one of the champions of immigration reform in the Senate, is scheduled to deliver the keynote speech.

Meanwhile, Cuban-American singer Gloria Estefan will sing the national anthem and country western singer Lee Greenwood will sing God Bless America. A squadron of U.S. Air Force F15s flying overhead will close the event.

http://www.miamiherald.com/416/story/150085.html

I would love to be there and cheer them on myself. They deserve it. They came in the right way.

Paige

Sen. Mel MartÃ*nez, R-Fla., one of the champions of immigration reform in the Senate, is scheduled to deliver the keynote speech.

Yea, but we could have used a different speake other than this idiot.

Your are right. It will be in Spanish so I wouldn't understand it.