The City of Tulsa surpassed a milestone on Thursday.
The 600th person to take their oath of allegiance to the United States in a Tulsa naturalization ceremony was in the group of 20 new citizens welcomed at city hall Thursday morning.
Immigration Services Officer Ruth Young told them America is a great tapestry.
"Woven in that is everything you bring with you: your languages, your religion, your experiences and your former nation," Young said.
The 13 countries represented were Burma, Ethiopia, India, Laos, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Portugal, Russia, United Kingdom, and Vietnam.
Mayor G.T. Bynum welcomed the new citizens with a story about how he just read letters his great-great grandfather wrote to his son 100 years ago to tell him about their former home in Norway.
"Decades later, a century later, members of their family have these remarkable lives and incredible rights and opportunities because of those sacrifices. And so, I'm keenly aware of the sacrifices and risks that you have taken to do this," Bynum said.
The city has hosted 24 naturalization ceremonies since 2019, 10 of them this year.
