Friends and family members clapped, cheered and took photos as Regine Ndayizeye stood up and walked to a small stage in Lyman Moore Middle School’s gym to receive her naturalization certificate, officially declaring her a citizen of the United States.
“There’s no doubt now that I’m becoming a citizen,” she said, beaming and clutching a small American flag, a bouquet of blue flowers and the piece of paper she had worked for years to get.
The resounding sentiments of Friday morning’s naturalization ceremony were of joy and relief. A naturalization ceremony is the last step required on the often long and complicated path to becoming a U.S. citizen. Many immigrants live, work and pay taxes in the country for years before becoming citizens.
Gedeon Mayombo, left, Tonton Gbia, Regine Ndayizeye and Elsa Nzomukunda raise their hands as they and nearly 30 others from 20 different nations take the Oath of Allegiance during a naturalization ceremony at Lyman Moore Middle School in Portland on Friday. Ben McCanna/Staff Photographer
Thirty people from 20 different countries were naturalized Friday. Some of them, including Ndayizeye, have been in the country for over a decade.
The path to becoming a citizen was a challenging and emotional one for Ndayizeye, who immigrated from Burundi to the U.S. in 2010 and now lives in Saco.
When she first came to the U.S., she was alone, leaving her twin 10-year-olds behind. It was six years before they were able to join her. The twins, Kelly Butoyi and Andy Bukuru, now both 22 and in college, attended the ceremony, bringing flowers to celebrate the occasion and enthusiastically snapping photos and cheering for their mother.
Every year, hundreds of thousands of people become American citizens at similar ceremonies across the country. About 1,000 Maine residents take the oath of citizenship each year. Friday’s naturalization ceremony, like others held around the state each year, made citizenship official for people from countries around the world.
Jonathan Kasongo and his son Amari Kasongo, 4, attended Friday’s naturalization ceremony to support a friend from Somalia who was becoming a U.S. citizen. Ben McCanna/Staff Photographer
Standing at a podium in front of rows of seated candidates surrounded by family, friends and Lyman Moore students who came to watch or participate in the ceremony, immigration officer Kurt Pelletier called out each country represented by a citizen-to-be and asked the candidates to stand in preparation of taking the naturalization oath of allegiance to the U.S.
The candidates, now citizens, included people from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Canada, Iran, Kazakhstan and many more.
Naturalization ceremonies, which are always open to the public, are often conducted at schools where students can participate and learn about the process of becoming a citizen.
Lyman Moore has held naturalization ceremonies for decades, but this was the first time they did so since the beginning of the pandemic, said sixth and seventh grade social studies teacher David Hilton.
The students, who are learning about Ellis Island, Angel Island and America’s tradition of immigration, sang “The Star-Spangled Banner” and “This Land is Your Land” and read “The New Colossus,” the poem by Emma Lazarus engraved on the Statue of Liberty.
The ceremony was short, less than an hour, but for many the path to get there was long.
New citizens said they had been waiting for this moment for four, five, six, up to 12 years. Some said they were the first of their families to become citizens, others said they were the last of large families to cross the finish line.
Some new citizens said they hoped that, now being Americans, it would be easier to go to college and get good jobs. Others said they hoped to be able to travel home to visit family members they haven’t seen in years. And some said reaching this moment was mostly just a weight off their shoulders.
When asked how it felt to become a citizen, Elsa Nzomukunda, also from Burundi and Ndayizeye’s friend, took an audible sigh of relief and said, “after 12 years, it feels pretty good.”
After taking the oath and being officially declared a citizen, Zahraa Atiyah, who immigrated from Iraq four years ago, turned around excitedly in her chair in the front of the room to wave the small flag in her hand and smile at her husband, who was sitting in the back with their 1 ½-year-old son, who was clad in blue pants and a top covered in dinosaurs and didn’t seem interested in sitting still.
After the ceremony, Atiyah, who lives in Augusta and works in the healthcare industry, said that becoming a citizen was a “good feeling.”
Mary Chukwu, who immigrated from Nigeria six years ago and lives in Bangor, said she is the last in her family to become a citizen. “I worried this would never happen,” she said. “Now I don’t worry.” Around eight family members of all ages came to watch her become a citizen.
Regine Ndayizeye, originally of Burundi, waves to the audience at Lyman Moore Middle School in Portland on Friday before receiving her Certificate of Naturalization. Ben McCanna/Staff Photographer
Ndayizeye’s children, Butoyi and Bukuru, spoke about the challenges and sacrifice of being separated for six years and said becoming a citizen is a huge deal for their mom.
Ndayizeye would cry over the telephone during those years and say how much she missed them, Bukuru said. And despite the excitement to be reunited and in the U.S., Butoyi said it was challenging to rebuild a relationship after so long communicating only by phone.
“We hadn’t seen each other for so many years,” Butoyi said.
Bukuru and Butoyi were thrilled to see their mom reach this milestone that had long been her dream.
“I’m very excited for her,” said Bukuru, who surprised his mom by driving up from college in Massachusetts to be at the ceremony.
Ndayizeye, who has been in the U.S. for 13 years, said it was a long time coming.
“I passed through many years to get asylum, my green card,” she said. “I work here, pay taxes here, my family is here. I need to be a citizen, to belong to this country.”
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