Former First Lady Melania Trump To Speak at National Archives Naturalization Ceremony on December 15
Media Alert · Monday, December 4, 2023

Washington, DC

As part of its annual celebration of Bill of Rights Day, the National Archives is hosting a naturalization ceremony at 10 a.m. on Friday, December 15. The ceremony, held in the historic National Archives Rotunda, will see 25 people from 25 nations sworn in as new U.S. citizens in front of the Constitution and our nation’s other founding documents. Former First Lady Melania Trump, herself a naturalized citizen, and Archivist of the United States Dr. Colleen Shogan, will provide remarks.

Attendance at the ceremony is limited to citizenship candidates and invited guests. Media wishing to cover the event in-person should request credentials by emailing  public.affairs@nara.gov no later than Monday, December 11. 

The Honorable Elizabeth L. Gunn, a U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the District of Columbia, will preside as the petitioners take the oath of citizenship. The citizenship candidates are from Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, Belgium, Bolivia, Cameroon, China, El Salvador, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Italy, Mexico, Nigeria, Peru, Philippines, Senegal, Serbia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Trinidad and Tobago, and the United Kingdom.

This program is presented in partnership with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and the Department of Homeland Security’s 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. on December 15. Regular hours of 10 a.m. to 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 232 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.