{"id":255573,"date":"2026-07-30T15:50:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T15:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/255573\/"},"modified":"2026-07-30T15:50:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T15:50:11","slug":"38-become-new-u-s-citizens-in-naturalization-ceremony-in-berks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/255573\/","title":{"rendered":"38 become new U.S. citizens in naturalization ceremony in Berks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Juan Velasquez couldn\u2019t help by smile.<\/p>\n

He was sitting on a bench inside a fifth-floor courtroom at the Berks County Courthouse, a small American flag held in his right hand, a proud grin stretched across his face.<\/p>\n

Just a few moments before he had raised that right hand as he repeated his oath of allegiance to the United States, officially making the 27-year-old a citizen Wednesday afternoon.<\/p>\n

\"JuanJuan Velasquez of Reading celebrates after becoming a U.S. citizen during a naturalization ceremony Wednesday at the Berks County Courthouse. (DAVID MEKEEL – READING EAGLE)<\/p>\n

The moment was a decade in the making, and it was one that Velasquez cherished.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to feel like I\u2019m doing something in life, that I\u2019m not wasting time now,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Velasquez was one of 38 people from 10 countries to become the newest citizens of the U.S. during a naturalization ceremony organized by the Berks County Bar Association and presided over by Berks County Judge Eric Taylor.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to welcome you to the melting pot that is the United States,\u201d Taylor told the new Americans, encouraging them to embrace their new home while not forgetting about their heritage.<\/p>\n

Velasquez, who moved to the U.S. from Colombia with his father when he was 16, said he has been doing just that. He has come to love living in his new country, lauding the opportunities it provides him.<\/p>\n

\"ReadingReading resident Juan Velasquez takes the oath of allegiance during a naturalization ceremony Wednesday at the Berks County Courthouse. (DAVID MEKEEL \u2013 READING EAGLE)<\/p>\n

\u201cI love all of the opportunity I have, all of the chances I have to be something in life,\u201d the Reading High graduate and tattoo artist said.<\/p>\n

For Roisin Kelly, the United States also provided an opportunity. For her, it was to pursue love and build a family.<\/p>\n

She first came to the country from Ireland at 11 years old through Project Children, which brought together kids from Ireland and Northern Ireland to spend summers in the U.S. as respite from the violence then plaguing that part of Europe.<\/p>\n

She would visit again when she was older, then come on a permanent basis in 1996. That was because she met an American man, fell in love and got married.<\/p>\n

\"RoisinRoisin Kelly of Douglassville said she decided to become a U.S. citizen to set an example for her daughter. (DAVID MEKEEL – READING EAGLE)<\/p>\n

The Douglassville woman and her husband raised three children, and with her two eldest now old enough to vote Kelly decided she needed to officially become an American.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a daughter and I want to teach her the importance of voting,\u201d she said. \u201cI wanted to set an example for my child.\u201d<\/p>\n

Journeys like those taken by Velasquez and Kelly aren\u2019t easy ones, leaving behind your home and heading to a new, unfamiliar one. That\u2019s something Angelica Matias knows all about.<\/p>\n

Matias, an attorney with MidPenn Legal Services, provided remarks during the ceremony, sharing her own journey.<\/p>\n

She grew up in Puerto Rico, building a family and career there. But after Hurricane Maria in 2017, she decided to leave the island territory for Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n

While being Puerto Rican made her an American citizen, the move was still a giant change for her, she said. In the days before she left she cried, afraid about making the decision and worried she would never feel at home again.<\/p>\n

Her early days in the U.S. were tough as she struggled to find her own place to stay \u2014 she initially lived with her sisters \u2014 and to rebuild her career.<\/p>\n

Because of language barriers and a lack of knowledge about the Puerto Rican legal system, she found it hard to find a job in law. She said she ended up working a lot of jobs that were unrelated to her education level.<\/p>\n

\u201cStarting over was not easy,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

But she persevered, saying she looked at every door that was closed on her as an arrow pointing toward a new opportunity.<\/p>\n

And she encouraged those becoming citizens Wednesday to do the same and to use their own unique backgrounds to contribute to their new country.<\/p>\n

\u201cEach of you carries with you a story of courage,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd your journey doesn\u2019t end today. In many ways, it\u2019s just beginning.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Juan Velasquez couldn\u2019t help by smile. He was sitting on a bench inside a fifth-floor courtroom at the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":255574,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[349,182,139,28,128,130,129,706],"class_list":["post-255573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-reading","tag-berks-county","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-reading-city","tag-reading-city-headlines","tag-reading-city-news","tag-top-stories-reg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255573","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=255573"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255573\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/255574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=255573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=255573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=255573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}