KINGSTON – Freezing temperatures couldn’t cool off the heated comments Friday as State Senator Michelle Hinchey (D, Saugerties) joined Ulster County lawmakers in demanding that the Trump Administration reinstate the region’s naturalization ceremonies.
They gathered to speak outside the Ulster County Office Building in Kingston and drew a large crowd despite the cold.
Earlier this week, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services cancelled three local naturalization ceremonies, including Ulster’s which was scheduled for December 12.
“They have gone through the legal system, done every single thing the government has asked of them, has directed them to do, sacrificing for years, spending money, spending their time. We should not be making it harder for people at that last step to actually become a naturalized American citizen,” said Hinchey. “That’s something we should be celebrating.”
The cancellations came as a surprise to officials, since nearly all the upstate, swearing-in ceremonies that were cancelled two weeks ago have been reinstated.
County Clerk Taylor Bruck says the UCIS has been chipping away at their ability to host these ceremonies for the past year.
He said he received an email notification that next week’s ceremony was cancelled due to the low number of candidates.
Swearing-in ceremonies in Dutchess and Putnam counties were also cancelled.
“This has never happened before,” said Bruck. “There’s never been a threshold, never been a quota. It seems to be that they’re grasping at straws to find any way they can to cancel them and not have them locally, which is very frustrating.”
County Executive Jen Metzger said until ceremonies are reinstated, they will try to privately recognize those candidates who are sworn in without fanfare.
“It is a very long road to becoming a U.S. citizen. Many, many more people want that opportunity and don’t get it,” said Metzger. “To deprive people who have done this work, who have been looking forward to this day like nothing else, of the chance to have the dignity of a ceremony in our courthouse is just wrong. And as you’ve heard, the excuses are bogus.”
Congressman Pat Ryan (D, NY-18) is in Washington D.C. and could not attend the Ulster event.
In a letter to UCIS, Ryan has demanded the reinstatement of these ceremonies, calling the cancellations “deeply un- American.”
Officials say local community members should be calling and writing their federal representatives to let them know that they want these ceremonies reinstated—especially those who live in Republican districts.
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