Gaelle Cesar moved to Boston from Haiti when she was 9 years old. Now 18 years old and set to graduate from high school, she became the first in her family to be sworn in as an American citizen.
Cesar admits she was concerned leading up to Tuesday’s event because of the fast-paced changes to immigration policy since President Donald Trump took office.
“I’m very relieved actually. I didn’t know if it would happen because of everything that’s going on in the U.S.,” Cesar told GBH News. “I’m glad that I was able to go through that process and have it done.”
Cesar was excited to spend this special moment on the Lexington Battle Green, dubbed“the birthplace of American liberty” — the first time a naturalization ceremony has been held on the historic battlefield.
This past weekend, Lexington and Concord celebrated the 250th anniversary of the start of the Revolutionary War. That series of events continued with Tuesday’s ceremony, which included the Lexington Minute Men Honor Guard, and saw 49 individuals from 28 countries sworn in as American citizens.
“The citizens of Lexington who fought here 250 years ago sparked a revolution based on the principles of equality and human rights,” said Craig Sandler, president of the town’s historical society. “These principles are definitely still alive, and we reaffirm them here today. By taking your oaths as citizens here today. You are making this place even more historic and even more sacred.”
Celestino Gomes arrived from Cabo Verde with his mother when he was 20 years old. After establishing legal residency, he joined the U.S. Army National Guard.
Dressed in his military uniform at the ceremony, he watched as the Lexington militia reenactors marched in. He later told GBH News he was struck by the thought that they were the first to take a stand for American freedom 250 years ago.
“Immigration is always going to be here because this is a great country full of opportunities, people always trying to come here and search for a better life, as I did,” Gomes told GBH News. “I hope this country keeps helping in improving the life of a lot of people that come here, especially for opportunity and looking for a better life for themselves like I did.”
U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts Magistrate Judge Paul Levenson had the applicants stand as he swore them in as a group.
“You do not take an oath of allegiance to any person, to any political party or even to any state or local government,” Levenson said in his remarks. “Your oath is to the Constitution, which has long been the cornerstone in the system of ordered liberty that has been the greatest treasure of this nation.”
Levenson ended the ceremony by making it clear to the newly sworn-in citizens that they are now part of “We the People of the United States of America.”
He asked the group to recite those words aloud: “We the people of the United States.” They did.
Then the magistrate instructed them to say the words again, and louder. Cesar and Gomes both stood while waving their American flags, chanting with the crowd: “We the people of the United States!”
