The federal agency tasked with processing applications for citizenship will naturalize more than 14,000 new Americans as part of its annual Fourth of July celebration this year.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services will hold 175 naturalization ceremonies across the country from June 28-July 10.
“If willing to honor our system of laws and adhere to its faithful execution, the great privilege of citizenship is attainable for many legitimate petitioners each year seeking greater opportunity, prosperity, and security as newly entrusted American citizens,” USCIS spokesman Michael Bars told the Washington Examiner.
Last year, USCIS naturalized about 15,000 people around the July 4 holiday.
Trump’s first two years in office saw a much larger number of naturalizations than in recent years under President Obama. During Obama’s last few years in office, between 4,000 and 9,000 people were naturalized in the weeks around the holiday.
USCIS said the uptick in Fourth of July naturalizations since 2017 is a coincidence.
“The amount of administrative ceremonies scheduled by USCIS and those scheduled by courts for judicial ceremonies taking place over the Fourth of July are no more a result of scheduling efficiencies and the way the calendars fall from year to year,” according to a USCIS spokesperson.
Although the number of applications for citizenship, known as N-400s, increased 35 percent since 2012, USCIS data shows the number of people given citizenship has remained between 700,000 and 750,000 each year since then.
This year’s naturalization ceremonies were kicked off in San Antonio, Texas, last Thursday where USCIS Director L. Francis Cissna addressed 37 new Americans.
“The naturalization ceremony marks the end of the journey toward citizenship, just as it marks the start of new lives as American citizens,” Cissna said in a statement. “We are humbled to be able to share in this moment of pride, joy, and personal triumph.”
