{"id":320836,"date":"2026-06-26T17:13:45","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T17:13:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/320836\/"},"modified":"2026-06-26T17:13:45","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T17:13:45","slug":"66-people-become-us-citizens-at-miamis-freedom-tower-during-americas-250th-anniversary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/320836\/","title":{"rendered":"66 people become US citizens at Miami\u2019s Freedom Tower during America\u2019s 250th anniversary"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"c-paragraph\">MIAMI \u2014 Sixty-six people from 29 countries became United States citizens Friday during a naturalization ceremony at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.local10.com\/topic\/Freedom_Tower\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.local10.com\/topic\/Freedom_Tower\/\">Miami\u2019s Freedom Tower<\/a>, a historic landmark that once welcomed Cuban refugees, as the nation celebrates America\u2019s 250th anniversary.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">The ceremony featured the singing of the Star-Spangled Banner, the Pledge of Allegiance, American flags and applause as the new citizens took the oath and officially joined the nation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Among them was Fabiola Perez, who immigrated from Mexico with her son, Juan Pablo.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cI said this is the best city in the U.S. I said if I live in (the) U.S., I want to live in Miami,\u201d Perez said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Her son said he hopes to become a U.S. citizen next year and already has plans for his future.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cI really would love to live the American dream in the sense of getting into society, contributing and working,\u201d a man named Juan Pablo said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Coco Wachli Banks, originally from Kenya and now a high school French teacher in Miami, said becoming a citizen during the nation\u2019s 250th anniversary made the moment even more meaningful.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cTo commemorate the 250th anniversary of this country, I can\u2019t explain it, but I\u2019m filled with pride,\u201d Banks said. \u201cI\u2019m going to be the proudest American when it happens.\u201d <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Martha Garcia, originally from the Dominican Republic, also became a U.S. citizen Friday. Garcia, a preschool teacher in North Miami, reflected on achieving a longtime goal.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cI\u2019ve earned my goal here working as a teacher. It\u2019s so exciting to help the development of children. They are definitely the future. I don\u2019t know why they picked me, but when they told me, I said, \u2018Why me?\u2019 I don\u2019t know what purpose he has with this opportunity for me. It\u2019s so unique and I\u2019m so thankful,\u201d Garcia said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Although they came from different parts of the world and have different backgrounds, the new citizens shared a common theme throughout the ceremony \u2014 gratitude for the opportunity to become Americans and optimism about pursuing the American dream.<\/p>\n<p>\ud83c\udfe0 News From Your Neighborhood<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph b-article-body__copyright\">Copyright 2026 by WPLG Local10.com &#8211; All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MIAMI \u2014 Sixty-six people from 29 countries became United States citizens Friday during a naturalization ceremony at Miami\u2019s&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":320837,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[123,125,124],"class_list":["post-320836","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320836","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=320836"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320836\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/320837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=320836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=320836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=320836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}