Anna from "Frozen" and Captain Phasma from "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" are now U.S. citizens. So are a hot dog, a butterfly, a SWAT team officer and a mini-Donald Trump.
Or, at least, their likenesses are. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services hosted a special naturalization ceremony on Friday for children whose parents recently became U.S. citizens. Since it was the day before Halloween, the kids were invited to wear costumes and go trick-or-treating around the offices afterward.
With their parents watching, the children took the oath of allegiance, watched a video message from President Barack Obama, and heard from Citizenship and Immigration Services Director León Rodríguez, who, for part of his remarks, was dressed as Fred Flintstone.
"This is a place of limitless possibilities," Rodriguez told the children. "And part of that comes from taking advantage of those rights and responsibilities that we talked about before, and part of it comes from pursuing your dreams to be whatever you want to be."
"I get to follow my dreams," she said of becoming a U.S. citizen. "I want to be something that has to do with health, when I grow up."
"It opens up more doors," he said of his American citizenship.
"I can finally be like my friends, because everybody's a U.S. citizen and also my cousin is also trying to be a U.S. citizen. ... It's fun," she said.
Abdurhman said the best thing about America is "freedom of everything."
"I really like America. It has a lot of opportunities and it's really nice and it's safe," she said. "It's very environmental and it's nice to everyone."
"I get my certificate," Mansur said. "I become a U.S. citizen."
"I like the amusement parks," she said, describing what she likes about her new country. "In my country, we don't have amusement parks."
"It's a big opportunity," he said of his new citizenship.
"I feel great!" he said of his citizenship. "I'm going to be the second one in my family to have it."
