URBANA, IL – U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today celebrated the naturalization of 60 new citizens from 25 countries at a ceremony presided over by the Honorable Eric I. Long, United States Magistrate Judge for the Central District of Illinois. Durbin was joined by Urbana Mayor DeShawn Williams.
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“Today, 60 new Americans from 25 countries took an oath that binds us all—not by birth, but by shared belief in our country's promise. My own mother came to this country as a two-year-old refugee from Lithuania, and I keep her naturalization certificate framed in my office to this day. It reminds me that America has always been strengthened, not weakened like some want us to believe, by those who choose it. To our newest citizens: you now carry both the rights and the responsibilities of this democracy, and I'm counting on you to exercise and defend them. What an incredible way to begin the holiday weekend,” said Durbin.
Photos of the naturalization ceremony are available here.
