By james art 
By John Hannah and Nick Ingram
Topeka, Kan. (AP) -Carlos Wirid came to the United States from Mexico to his 40s with his wife to pursue his dream of starting a business and building a better life for their daughter, then at 10 months.
He and his wife became US citizens on Monday, taking their oath at a ceremony in Kansas Stathaus in Topeka, along with 28 others, while their families watched, waved with small flags and recorded the event on their mobile phones. Wriadt, his wife and daughter have been living in the United States for over 20 years, and he and his wife already have a business at Wichita offering services for translation of courts, medical providers and more.
WRIEDT had a green card proving that it was a legitimate permanent resident even before last year’s elections – in which President Donald Trump made the illegal immigration a key question – he did not worry that he would not be able to renew. But he and his wife applied for citizenship anyway. Their daughter became a citizen in September.
After he and the other immigrants sang the final “House of the Brave” in the national anthem, they put the oath, giving up foreign princes and potentials and promised faithfulness to the American flag, WRIEDT said there were still tires, but it was also relieved.
“Now no one can take us away from us unless we are wrong – but of course we don’t,” he said.
The United States naturalized over 818,000 new citizens from October 2023 to September 2024, an average of about 68,000 a month, according to the federal government. In Topeca, the 30 new citizens came from 18 different nations and the ceremony gave the speakers a chance to emphasize their own immigrants, with Kansas governor Laura Kelly noted that her family emigrated from Ireland.
But this also happened against the backdrop of Trump’s promise of mass deportations of immigrants living in the United States, illegally, his suspension of refugee migrations and his efforts to end the constitutional promise of citizenship of first -born children for children born in the United States for parents of immigrants S
“I am currently disappointed with climate and rhetoric,” said Kansas Tobias Schlingensip, Democrat from Topeka and Minister of the United Church of Christ. “He encourages people with short fuses who do things they should not do.”
Still, Schlingensiepen was heard from the ceremony and she returned memories. This year will celebrate the 50th anniversary of its own naturalization as a 13-year-old immigrant from Germany. He attended other ceremonies and stopped watching Monday after he had fallen during the interruption of legislative meetings.
Officials who speak at the ceremony congratulated the new citizens who had to complete applications, interview, take a citizenship test and testify to their good character before they could be naturalized. The speakers also celebrated the diversity of the American population and described their accepted nation as a place of justice and inclusion.
“The dreams of immigrants have built in America and continue to inject new energy, new vitality and new power in our country,” Kelly said.
The Kansas Court of Appeal Rachel Piking noted that her mother’s parents came to the United States from Mexico about a century ago. Subsequently, she said they were running away from a civil war and taking a train to Chicago to find a job before settling in Detroit.
She told new citizens, “You keep the American dream alive.”
While Jerry Ugbo launched the oath of citizenship, his wife Hannah looked with her two children, at 18 months of Gideon and the 6-month-old Nora. Gideon laughed at pleasure as his mother waved a small American flag, then handed it to him. The flag is eventually attached to the side of Nora’s carriage.
Jerry Ugbo came to Idaho from Nigeria in 2015 to study human biology. He and his family now live in Manhattan, Kansas, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) northwest of Topeka. He graduated from the school to become an assistant to a doctor and the inn makes a major planning of events.
The couple married in 2018, and Jerry Ugbo didn’t think much to become a US citizen as he focused on his career. He described the United States as a place of “endless opportunity” after becoming friends and immersed in American culture.
With the immigration rotation debate, Hanna Ugbo said it thinks it is important for people to come legally to the United States, but that the legal process has obstacles. It costs at least hundreds of dollars and often immigrants hire lawyers to help them, especially if they are fighting English. Jerry and Hanna Ugbo, unable to afford a lawyer, had to sweat the details themselves.
With his oath, Jerry Ugbo and his family planned to celebrate, although the first line of business was food and, Hannah Ugbo said, to “let the children play.”
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