American welcomes, Sleeping Bear beckons
By Jacob Wheeler
Sun editor
Representatives from Michigan’s Secretary of State office will offer new U.S. citizens the opportunity to register to vote after a naturalization ceremony outside the Maritime Museum at Glen Haven on Friday, Aug. 24, Secretary of State Ruth Johnson announced yesterday.
Friday’s ceremony will commence at 10 a.m. at the Sleeping Bear Point Coast Guard Life Saving Station and Maritime Museum, one mile west of Glen Arbor. Local scout troops will present the flags and recite the Pledge of Allegiance. The U.S. Coast Guard from Traverse City will perform a flyover.
“This is a truly unique opportunity to become a citizen at the site of one of Michigan’s beautiful natural wonders,” said Johnson. “I encourage everyone to register to vote so that they can exercise one of this country’s fundamental rights — to have their voice heard on Election Day.”
Twenty-seven new Americans, hailing from 21 different countries, have been invited to take the oath of allegiance, according to Lisa Myers, chief of interpretation and visitor services at the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. Friday’s ceremony will feature three Ukrainians, two Venezuelans, two Germans and natives of Kosovo, Bosnia Herzegovina, Russia, Mexico, Peru, the Dominican Republic, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Somalia, Ethiopia, Liberia, Pakistan, Cambodia, the Philippines and Vietnam.
“This ceremony will be held right on the shore of Lake Michigan in a National Park that will now belong to them as U.S. citizens,” said Myers, who reached out to the Department of Homeland Security office in Detroit once she learned that other National Parks have held naturalization ceremonies. New citizens have taken the Oath of Allegiance by the Statue of Liberty, in Yosemite Valley, on the rim of the Grand Canyon, and at Independence Hall. “I wanted to hold one here.”
“By partnering with Immigration and Naturalization Services and holding these events in our parks, we give our new citizens a way to learn about the America they might not have studied in the tests and lengthy process they went through to become Americans,” added Myers, who also sees a parallel to the immigrants who once traveled the Great Lakes to arrive on U.S. soil.
Secretary of State representatives will have a voter registration table on site for the convenience of the newly sworn citizens. People also may register to vote at their local clerk’s office, at their local Secretary of State office or by mail.
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Bureau, part of the Department of Homeland Security, is conducting the ceremony, during which residents who want to become citizens take the oath of citizenship and receive their certificate of naturalization. This follows a detailed application process including interviews, fingerprinting, and an English and civics test.
