By Staff
Northwest Asian Weekly
The new American citizens naturalized on Aug. 26 with ReWA Executive Director Someireh Amirfaiz (back left), US Citizenship and Immigration Services District Director Anne Corsano (back center left), Sec. of Interior Sally Jewell (back center), and Seattle Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs Director Magdaleno Rose-Avila (back right). (Photo by George Liu/NWAW)
Twenty-one new United States citizens, 19 of them women, were naturalized on Aug. 26 at a ceremony hosted by the Refugee Women’s Alliance (ReWA) in celebration of Women’s Equality Day. Seven of the new citizens came to the United States as refugees.
Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell, who immigrated to the United States with her parents at the age of 4 and is currently the only immigrant member of President Obama’s cabinet, attended the event while vacationing in Washington state.
Jewell gave the keynote speech, reinforcing the importance of realizing one’s political power through naturalization and voting.
Mai Thy Nguyen and her son (front) with (from left) USCIS District Director Anne Corsano, Seattle Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs Magdaleno Rose-Avila, US Sec. of Interior Sally Jewell, and ReWA Executive Director Someireh Amirfaiz (Photo by George Liu/NWAW)
Of the 21 citizens, 10 were from Vietnam and two were from the Philippines. The rest came from Brazil, Ethiopia, France, Mexico, Russia, and Somalia.
ReWA helps transitioning refugees and immigrants by providing family support, employment help, citizenship training, vocational training, and other services in 37 languages. (end)
For more information about ReWA, visit www.rewa.org.
Northwest Asian Weekly staff can be reached at info@nwasianweekly.com.