New citizens pledge oath to U.S. during Independence Day ceremony

ATLANTA, Ga. (CBS46) - In a special pre-Independence Day ceremony, 25 men and women from 14 countries took the oath and became U.S. citizens Thursday.

The ceremony took place at the district office of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in Tucker.

Gi Jeong was eight years old when he moved to America from South Korea with his parents. Now an attorney in Atlanta, he was ready to make it official.

“I’m glad that I finally took the steps to become a citizen,” said Jeong, adding that he’s glad he’ll finally be able to vote.

Dale Rayman was 22 when he moved here from Canada.

“This is like 40 years to the week that I actually moved to the states,” said Rayman, now 63.

His son was born here, and now his granddaughter, so he decided the time was right to become a dual citizen.

Rayman acknowledges the U.S. has dealt with a lot of negativity in recent years.

“It’s not just the U.S. There’s other parts of the world, too -- a lot of things going on,” he said, “so you just hope you can make a contribution to try and make it a kinder, gentler nation.”

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