USCIS Holds Children's Citizenship Ceremony to Celebrate Flag Day

WASHINGTON—U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) kicked off a week-long celebration of Flag Day by hosting a special children’s citizenship ceremony today at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.  During the ceremony, USCIS Director Alejandro Mayorkas administered the Oath of Allegiance to 24 children from 18 different countries, spoke about the significance of Flag Day, and launched a new children’s art project with the theme “We Are America.”

“Today we honor our past and celebrate our future,” said Director Mayorkas.  “The flag is an important symbol of the principles these young new citizens will carry forward for years to come.”

Director Mayorkas also announced the “We Are America” children’s art project.  USCIS will encourage children across the United States to create artwork in response to an important prompt: “People have come from all over the world to become Americans.  Why does that make us great?”  The children’s artwork will then be displayed in USCIS offices around the country.  USCIS will collaborate on the project with public libraries and other community-based organizations serving America’s immigrant communities.  Entries are due by August 16, 2010.

USCIS’s weeklong Flag Day celebration runs June 12 to 18 and includes a June 14 naturalization ceremony at Philadelphia’s Betsy Ross Historical Site, where legend says the first “Stars and Stripes” was sewn. USCIS will also host naturalization ceremonies in honor of Flag Day at the Homestead National Monument of America in Beatrice, Nebraska and at the Colonial Williamsburg Historical Area in Virginia.

For more information on the Children’s Art Project, please visit www.uscis.gov/childrensartproject.

For more information on USCIS and its programs, please visit www.uscis.gov or view our blog, The Beacon, available at http://blog.uscis.gov.