President Joe Biden on Friday hosted a naturalization ceremony at the White House to welcome 21 immigrants as citizens of the United States ahead of Independence Day.

What You Need To Know

  • President Joe Biden on Friday hosted a naturalization ceremony at the White House to welcome 21 immigrants as citizens of the United States ahead of Independence Day

  • Biden used the moment to call for the option of citizenship for immigrants who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children, for foreign-born people who have temporary protected status due to strife in their birth countries and for farm workers

  • Sixty-one percent of Americans believe any undocumented immigrant should be able to follow a legal process to obtain U.S. citizenship, a key tenet of Biden’s immigration proposal, according to an exclusive Spectrum News-Ipsos Poll last month

  • The ceremony is part of a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services effort to swear in nearly 10,000 new citizens in 170 naturalization ceremonies between June 30 and July 7

The ceremony is part of a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services effort to swear in nearly 10,000 new citizens in 170 naturalization ceremonies between June 30 and July 7.

Acting USCIS Director Tracy Renaud and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas joined Biden at the ceremony at the White House Friday. Mayorkas on Wednesday administered the Oath of Allegiance virtually to 22 military service members serving overseas in a special ceremony.

Biden on Friday watched as Mayorkas again administered the Oath of Allegiance. The 21 candidates represented 16 nations, including: Afghanistan, Canada, China, Colombia, Egypt, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Iraq, Nepal, New Zealand, Panama, the Philippines, South Korea and the United Kingdom. 

Mayorkas, himself a naturalized U.S. citizen who made the journey from Cuba as a young boy, told those assembled: “Today, our nation is better than it was yesterday. It is better today, in part, because we have you as citizens.” 

President Biden took the stage following the Oath of Allegiance, thanking the newly-naturalized citizens for “choosing us” and for believing in the American dream.  

“You've each come to America from different circumstances, for different reasons, and sixteen different nationalities,” Biden said. “But like previous generations of immigrants, there’s one trait you all share in common: Courage. It takes courage to get up and leave everything you know.”

Biden also honored Sandra Lindsay during the ceremony, director of patient care services for critical care at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, who was the first American to receive a COVID-19 vaccine in December of last year. 

Lindsay came to the U.S. from Jamaica in 1986, and became a naturalized citizen in 1997. On Friday, Lindsay received the “Outstanding Americans by Choice” award, a USCIS honor that aims to “recognize naturalized citizens who have made significant contributions to both their community and their adopted country on a case-by-case basis.”

“Thank you for representing the very best of all of us,” Biden said as he welcomed her to the stage. 

The president also focused on the need to pass immigration reform during his address, using the moment to call for the option of citizenship for immigrants who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children, for foreign-born people who have temporary protected status due to strife in their birth countries and for farm workers.

Immigration has been a political flashpoint as Biden has sought to renew visa and refugee programs that were cut or suspended during the Trump administration.

Biden unveiled a sweeping immigration proposal on the first day of his presidency, which would provide the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S. a path to citizenship, while a bipartisan group of lawmakers unveiled legislation of their own in April, which would address surges of migration at the border.

Republican lawmakers blocked the effort and have criticized the administration for the rise in people attempting to cross the southern border without visas.

More Americans approve of the job President Joe Biden is doing to handle immigration than that of his predecessor, former President Donald Trump, according to an exclusive Spectrum News-Ipsos Poll last month. Of those polled, 45% approve of the way President Biden is handling immigration, compared to 39% for Trump. 

Sixty-one percent of Americans believe any undocumented immigrant should be able to follow a legal process to obtain U.S. citizenship, a key tenet of Biden’s immigration proposal.

The immigration debate involves fundamental issues of national security and economic growth. Republican lawmakers seeking to limit immigration say it will help keep the U.S. safe and protect jobs for native-born citizens. But economists — many associated with Democrats — say increased immigration would boost economic growth that is currently weighed down by falling fertility rates.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.