National Archives to Host Naturalization Ceremony
Media Alert · Monday, December 12, 2022

Washington, DC

To celebrate Bill of Rights Day (December 15), 40 petitioners for citizenship from 25 nations will be sworn in as new U.S. citizens in front of our nation’s founding documents (Declaration of Independence, U.S. Constitution, and Bill of Rights) in the Rotunda of the National Archives Museum. The ceremony will feature remarks from U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona and Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Ur M. Jaddou and will take place on Thursday, December 15, at 10 a.m. It is closed to the public.

The press is invited to cover the ceremony. Accredited media representatives should use the Constitution Avenue special events entrance, at 7th Street, NW, and set up by 9:45 a.m., as the ceremony begins promptly at 10 a.m. RSVP to public.affairs@nara.gov.

This year marks the 231st anniversary of the ratification of the Bill of Rights. See our National Archives News Bill of Rights Day page for related programs and online resources.

The December 15 ceremony will include a welcome from Acting Archivist of the United States Debra Steidel Wall and remarks from U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona and Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Ur M. Jaddou. Students from Friendship Public Charter School—Armstrong Campus, a District of Columbia Public Charter School, will recite the Preamble to the Constitution.

The Honorable Beryl A. Howell, Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, will preside as the petitioners for United States citizenship take the oath of citizenship at the National Archives. The new citizens are from 25 nations: Argentina, Cambodia, Cameroon, China, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Ethiopia, France, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Iran, Iraq, Mauritius, Mongolia, Peru, Philippines, Russia, Serbia, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Tunisia, Turkey, Uruguay, and Venezuela.

The Use of Flash and Additional Lights is Prohibited in the Rotunda.

The National Archives Museum in the National Archives Building is located at Constitution Avenue and 7th Street, NW, in Washington, DC. Metro accessible on the Yellow and Green lines, Archives/Navy Memorial/Penn Quarter station. 

This program is presented in partnership with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and the Department of Homeland Security U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Please note: due to the ceremony, the Rotunda and the National Archives Museum will open to the public at 11:30 a.m. and remain open until 5:30 p.m. Regular hours of 10 a.m.–5:30 p.m. resume on December 16.

Bill of Rights Day commemorates the ratification of the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution on December 15, 1791. In President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s 1941 proclamation, he asked that December 15 be “set apart as a day of mobilization for freedom and for human rights, a day of remembrance of the democratic and peaceful action by which these rights were gained, a day of reassessment of their present meaning and their living worth.” For 231 years, this landmark document has guaranteed our freedoms of religion, speech, the press, assembly, and the right to petition the Government for redress of grievances.

New citizens and guests will share their naturalization ceremony experiences and photos through social media, using the hashtag #NewUSCitizen.