by Joe Wilhelm Jr.
Staff Writer
Courtroom 13A at the Bryan Simpson U.S. Courthouse was filled Thursday with 47 applicants for U.S. citizenship and their friends and family.
The federal court in Downtown Jacksonville hosted its seventh naturalization ceremony of the year with Senior U.S. District Judge Harvey Schlesinger presiding.
“It is a privilege and an honor to extend to each of you on behalf of the government and the people of the United States of America a very warm and sincere welcome,” said Schlesinger.
“I am fortunate to have the opportunity to be the first to congratulate you on becoming citizens of this great nation,” he said.
The new citizens represented 30 countries with Colombia and Bosnia, at five each, having the most representatives. The Philippines was a close second with four of its citizens being naturalized.
“Each of you was moved by your own various reasons for choosing this citizenship and forsaking old allegiances,” said Schlesinger.
“However diverse those reasons are, you share an awareness of the values that your new citizenship brings to you,” he said.
Along with the administration of the oath of citizenship by Schlesinger, The Jacksonville Bar Association President Michael Freed presented U.S. flags to the oldest, Elena Belazeo, formerly of Colombia, and the youngest member of the group, Selma Huskic, formerly of Bosnia.
The ceremony usually includes a video message from President Barack Obama, but technical difficulties shut down the audio portion of the message.
“Due to judicial budget cutbacks we weren’t able to air the audio portion of the message,” joked Schlesinger.
The next naturalization scheduled at the federal courthouse is set for Aug. 25 with U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas Morris presiding.
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