AS AMERICAN AS BASEBALL ...
24 new U.S. citizens sworn in at first naturalization ceremony at White Sox park before team’s afternoon game
A third squad took the field at Guaranteed Rate Field on Wednesday, only this one didn’t play for Chicago or the day’s opponent — the Los Angeles Angels. They were a set of newly sworn-in Americans.
The 24-person roster included men and women from 17 countries who ranged in age from 18 to 80. They were sworn in as U.S. citizens in a naturalization ceremony before the early afternoon game.
“It’s a long process, but worth it,” said Ramadan Caysever, one of the new citizens. “I’ll be able to participate in elections, to serve on a jury, that’s empowering.”
Caysever, 39, is originally from Istanbul, but today he lives in Lake View. Despite the heat and sun, he wore a suit and tie for the ceremony, which usually happens in a courtroom.
In recent years, naturalization ceremonies at places of cultural significance have become more common, but this group was the first to take the oath at Guaranteed Rate Field.
The first time the ceremony was held at a sports venue in Chicago was at Wrigley Field in 2021, when 172 people became citizens.
For the Northern District of Illinois, the ceremonies are usually reserved for a 25th-floor courtroom in the Dirksen Federal Building downtown. Hundreds are held there every year.
The Sox Park group was sworn in by Judge Marvin Aspen, who stood at home plate and wore a White Sox cap as he led the group through the naturalization oath. The group stood in front of the pitcher’s mound holding American flags.
As part of the process, the group had to study American history and government for a citizenship test, but Aspen reiterated that history in a speech before the oath, as a reminder to the fans listening in the stands.
“Most all American citizens can trace their family roots to immigrants, and such was the case at the very beginning,” Aspen said. “Our nation was founded by brilliant and courageous immigrants and the sons of immigrants.”
Many watching from the stands might be born citizens, Aspen said, but the legacy of the country’s founders lives on in those like the group on the South Side “who have made a conscious decision, as did our forefathers, to become a part of our great democracy.”
A lawyer affirmed for the judge that “each had been personally examined under oath by a designated officer” and had passed an exam on the “English language and knowledge and understanding of the fundamentals of the history and principles of the government of the United States.”
“Each of you has been found to be a person of good moral character” said White Sox lawyer Sheldon Zenner, “and well-disposed to the good order and happiness of the United States.”
After they took the oath, Aspen and Sox manager Pedro Grifol walked through the group handing out White Sox caps and shaking hands.
“Thank you so, so much,” declared Aida Pajarito, taking the judge’s hand.
Pajarito, who turns 81 on July 4, moved to Illinois in 2008 after retiring in the Philippines, where she worked as a government accountant. She originally moved to Des Plaines, where she had family, but has since moved to the South Side.
She imagined that becoming a citizen would make a big difference because she’d be able to access health insurance. “In the Philippines, if you have no money, you will die,” she said.
After the ceremony, she and the others moved to a suite to watch the game and were also treated to lunch.
Birane Badiane took his lunch to go. The Senegal native came to the U.S. six years ago as a refugee and now works at a restaurant as a cook. Within an hour of becoming a citizen, the 33-year-old was back on his way into work, but he was still all smiles.
“I’m so happy,” he said. “I’m so happy.”
Michael Loria is a staff reporter at the Chicago Sun-Times via Report for America, a not-for-profit journalism program that aims to bolster the paper’s coverage of communities on the South Side and West Side.