President Barack Obama kept up the immigration reform drumbeat Friday at a naturalization ceremony for military members and their spouses in Seoul, Korea.
The president attended the ceremony for 13 service members and seven military spouses before laying a wreath at the War Memorial of Korea.
Obama told the immigrants, sworn in after his speech, that “what makes us Americans . . . is a joyful spirit of citizenship.” He said to keep attracting the best and brights, smartest and selfless the country must keep in mind “the value of our immigrants to our way of life.”
“It is central to who we are; it’s in our DNA. It’s part of our creed. And that means moving forward, we’ve got to fix our broken immigration system and pass common-sense immigration reform.
The immigrants who took their citizenship oaths Friday came from Belize, Canada, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Jamaica, Japan, Nepal, Palau, Philippines, South Africa, South Korea and Zimbabwe.
The U.S. territory of America Samoa, whose residents are American nationals but not U.S. citizens, was also represented.
