Factions would be a vanilla kind
of watered down way to describe the
divisions of our country right now,
between where you stand on the pandemic,
social justice movements,
who should be sitting in the Oval
Office the last few years has been
about as divisive as it can be.
This side of the Civil War,
despite all of that,
we're reminded there are people
living around the world that
would love to call themselves an
American more than anything else.
Not to replace anyone,
but to be part of the great experiment
today at the federal courthouse in Boise,
a group of 79 people made the
jump from visitor to citizen
during a special ceremony.
Joe Parris and photojournalist
Kevin Eslinger spent the last few
moments with them of being outsiders
to the fierce first few moments
of realizing their American dream.
Or the.
A familiar anthem now
means something new to this group.
You're about to officially
become part of the fabric
of our community and our democracy
that I will support and defend
79 people who now call Idaho home are
officially citizens of the United States.
These new Americans come
from across the globe.
Japan, Ukraine, France, Italy,
all waiting to clear the final step,
hearing their name in country of origin.
Afghanistan. It's easy to spot beaming
smiles and tears of joy and the crowd
full of family, friends and supporters.
The realization of the American Dream
feels really, really good. I feel proud and
happy. I cannot explain my
feelings right now. Nadia
sits with her sister Mira,
who is just steps behind her on
the final path to citizenship
means a lot to honestly from
where I came and who I am today.
And who have become through all of this
six years living in the United States.
I'm really proud and happy.
I'm quite sure this is a day
you'll remember forever and
that you will remember fondly
today, I finally officially become
became an American citizen.
Darlene Davis left her home
in Haiti about 10 years ago.
Her journey as an American
begins on an exciting note.
It feels like a sense of
belonging and to a great nation,
of course, but also a sense of.
Pride that I'm part of this humongous
country that's so relevant and
I can make a little mark on it
and I I feel very proud. Davis
says, of course,
becoming a citizen is exciting.
She will wake up tomorrow for
the first time as an American.
I know, right? I don't know.
I don't know how I'm going to feel,
but I know I'm going to feel different.
I don't know yet,
but I know Bill good. It'll be
good. Yes, as the Group
of New Americans. Joins the country.
The circumstances remind us what this
United States of America is built on
and all of us came here with the
same dream. The dream of a better
life for ourselves and our families.
That is one way of sunshine that I can
send out to people out there that if
you have a dream you just pursue it.
If that dream is to be American,
you can do it because everyone can.
I know a lot of us take that
kind of stuff for granted.
Being an American citizen,
but for all those people there,
this is a years long process
to get to this point.
What was it like to be there?
I it's not to get overly cliche,
but you stand there and you think about you,
know kind of the situation that I
personally grew up in and the people that
my friends that I grew up around and
kind of the things we went through and
then you talked to some of the people
that are there today and you hear the
countries they're that they're coming
from and you know the stories that they
have and it's just this thing where
you're watching this group of people
that are so excited to join our country.
And I think about all the network
shows I've lost, you know,
watched over the last few days.
This is what's wrong with America.
This is how America's off the rails
and you watched this group of people
that want to be a part of our country.
And it makes you wonder what what's
so good about our our country?
You know why do they want to be
a part of this?
And it?
It's just it's a real perspective
reset for me as I'm standing
there today and watching this.
Of course we have a great country but
you meet these people that want to
be Americans as you mentioned not to
replace anyone but they want to join this.
They want to join the great melting pot,
the big experiment.
And to me it's just.
It's uplifting to see the ceremony.
And the smiles and the people
that say I can't wait to wake up
as an American tomorrow.
Alright, well, welcome aboard
all 79 of you. It's a pleasure to
see it jury duty. Yeah yeah that's right.
Good point alright thanks Joe.