Contact: Sid Salter

STARKVILLE, Miss.—New citizens from around the globe will be officially sworn in as United States citizens at The Mill at Mississippi State University on April 1 at 11 a.m. in the facility’s ballroom.

On that date, the ballrooms of The Mill at MSU’s Starkville campus will be transformed into a federal courtroom, where 120 individuals from across the globe will take the Oath of Allegiance to become U.S. citizens.

Mississippi’s U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Tupelo, will be the keynote speaker for the event, which will be presided over by the Honorable Sharion Aycock, Chief U.S. District Judge of the U.S. District Court in the Northern District of Mississippi. MSU is serving as the official host of the event.

A Pontotoc native, Wicker has represented Mississippi in the U.S. Senate since 2007 and represented the state in the U.S. House from 1996 to 2007. He served as a state senator from 1988 to 1995.

Other members of the federal judiciary who are expected to attend include District Judge Debra M. Brown, District Judge Glen H. Davidson, and Magistrate Judge Jane M. Virden.

MSU President Mark E. Keenum said, “The honor and privilege of hosting this important ceremony on our campus reinforces the fact that our university serves a global community. In bringing together scholars from around the world in the academic community, higher education indeed fosters an environment of peace and understanding in the world. This naturalization ceremony on our campus is symbolic of the role education plays in providing hope, diversity and unity for all people.”

At the ceremony, the National Anthem will be performed by MSU student Christon Bertrand and the Pledge of Allegiance led by MSU Student Association President Roxie Raven. The MSU State Singers will perform “God Bless America.”

The Daughters of the American Revolution will present gifts to the new citizens.

Naturalization is the process by which U.S. citizenship is conferred upon a foreign citizen or nationals after he or she fulfills the requirements established by Congress in the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).

The bureau of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) processes all naturalization applications and provides the Court with a list of the candidates selected to be naturalized in the federal court.

Naturalization ceremonies in the Northern District of Mississippi are usually held in the courthouses of Oxford, Aberdeen or Greenville, but have been held at various locations around Mississippi’s Northern federal judicial district.  The ceremonies are set when USCIS has enough applicants to hold a ceremony.

For additional information regarding Naturalization Ceremonies in the Northern District of Mississippi, contact Connie Armstrong at 662-234-1971.