{"id":238312,"date":"2016-10-12T06:06:16","date_gmt":"2016-10-11T20:06:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=238312"},"modified":"2016-10-12T06:06:16","modified_gmt":"2016-10-11T20:06:16","slug":"13-take-oath-newest-us-citizens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/13-take-oath-newest-us-citizens\/","title":{"rendered":"13 take oath as newest US citizens"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Attendees<\/a>
Attendees hold their certificates with Magistrate Judge Heather L. Kennedy, middle left, and guest speaker William Bezzant, far left, on Oct. 11, 2016. (Michel Santos)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Thirteen took their oaths as U.S. citizens during a naturalization ceremony held yesterday at the Horiguchi Building in Garapan.<\/p>\n

People of different origins\u2014the Philippines, Dominican Republic, and South Korea\u2014were presented their certifications under the supervision of Magistrate Judge Heather L. Kennedy. <\/p>\n

Ten from the Philippines and one from South Korea attended the ceremony. An attendee from the Dominican Republic was absent. Naturalized were Bernard Abendan, Sharon Abragan, Jenifer Dela Cruz, Francisco Mateo, Estenza Mojica, Julio Mojica, Jaycie Ordonez, Rosemarie Penaroyo, Remedios Reyes, Delia Sablan, Dhalian Sablan, Evelyn Techur, and Yong Nan Tydingco.<\/p>\n

William Bezzant, chief deputy clerk of the U.S. District Court for the NMI and guest speaker, spoke about the concept of immigrants who leave their homeland to search for opportunities, and the countries that grow and develop because of their arrival.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere have followed a continuous stream of immigrants to the United States of America, including my own ancestors from various countries in Europe and Scandanavia in the 1800\u2019s, until this day, today, where you now become the newest American citizens, here, where America\u2019s day begins,\u201d Bezzant said.<\/p>\n

Evelyn Arriola Techur said she arrived on Saipan in 1978. \u201cI was adopted at first. That\u2019s how I got here when I was a kid.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked about how she obtained her citizenship, Techur replied, \u201cI got it from my husband since I wasn\u2019t able to fix my papers before my stepfather passed away.\u201d<\/p>\n

Currently 51 years old, her first job was at the Hyatt Regency Saipan as an operator. She now works in the Department of Public Lands as their executive secretary. <\/p>\n

\u201cI guess I am now able to receive a lot of opportunities. It\u2019s amazing to be living in America considering all the freedom we are blessed with. I feel really excited. A little emotional, but definitely excited.\u201d Techur added.<\/p>\n

Another naturalized U.S. citizen is Dhalian Alvarez Salas. Salas used to be a house worker but is now currently a helper at San Vicente Church. She is a widow of a U.S. citizen and has a 16-year-old child. Being 53 years old, she came on island on April 8, 1995. Having her green card for 10 years, Salas is overjoyed about finally being naturalized.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel very happy about it because it\u2019s been something I\u2019ve wanted for such a long time. It\u2019s not only for myself but for my child as well since I can get more opportunities. I am sincerely grateful, especially to God. Without him, I wouldn\u2019t be where I am today.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thirteen took their oaths as U.S. citizens during a naturalization ceremony held yesterday at the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":238313,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[900],"tags":[11317,1241,320,13760],"class_list":["post-238312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","tag-dominican-republic","tag-south-korea","tag-us","tag-william-bezzant"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238312","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=238312"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238312\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/238313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=238312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=238312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}