Zion National Park • Eons in the making, the pink towering cliffs and other geologic wonders at Zion National Park stood witness to another milestone on Tuesday that has taken years for many to achieve.
As the sun peeked over the Bridge Mountain, 40 foreign nationals from 20 countries took the Oath of Allegiance from Magistrate Judge Paul Kohler, renouncing their allegiance to the nations they came from and swearing to support and defend the U.S. Constitution.
Still, the newly minted American citizens were instructed, that doesn’t mean they have to lose their sense of identity — to forget who they are and where they came from. As Tara McKee, deputy director of the Utah Division of Outdoor Recreation explained, America is a bit like a potluck dinner.
“Everybody brings the best part of themselves to this table in America,” she said, “and we should honor all those aspects of their culture and how everyone can have an influence on making this country a better place …”
“America has been a big experiment and it’s very revolutionary in that we can have a truly multiracial, inclusive democracy and still have respect for [our] differences …,” McKee added. “We don’t always live up to that in America, but we can still strive for that balance between freedom of speech and respect for each other with the aspect of civility.”
Citizenship doesn’t come easy
Indeed, the naturalization ceremony and such remarks struck a decidedly different tone from the often toxic and overheated rhetoric of this election season, especially the hostility that has routinely been directed toward immigrants.
For Jorge Orozzo, a Mexico City native who now lives with his family in Centerville, none of that mattered as he and his wife, Sonia, achieved their dream to become American citizens.
“Every country has its issues,” said Orozzo, who has been trying to become a citizen for 30 years. “It’s taken a long time following the process but we are just grateful to be part of this beautiful country, where my three kids were born and which has been such a blessing in our lives.”
For Nigerian native Joy Baunberger and her American husband, Ammon, her quest for citizenship took seven years, during which time she was denied a green card and successfully battled the government’s efforts to deport her.
(Mark Eddington | The Salt Lake Tribune) Joy Baunberger, right, celebrates becoming an American citizen with her husband, Ammon, and their two children following a naturalization ceremony at Zion National Park, Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024.
“But today, I now feel 100% that I belong here and that I am not separate from my [two] kids and my husband,” Baunberger said. “Now I feel like we are one, and it feels great.”
Citizenship also didn’t come easy for Pedro Huebner of Brazil, a professor who teaches systems engineering at the University of Utah. He said he spent 13 years in the U.S., undergoing lots of interviews and gathering a lot of documentation before he could convince the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services that he was a good candidate for citizenship.
But Huebner and others attest that following the process was worth the wait, especially being able to become a naturalized citizen in Zion National Park.
“It’s a place that literally makes me cry,” said Huebner, who celebrated the occasion with his boyfriend, Jared Stewart, who helped him study for the citizenship exam. “It means a lot to me to be naturalized in this beautiful place.”
Land of promise
(Mark Eddington | The Salt Lake Tribune) Citizens are sworn in by U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul Kohler at a naturalization ceremony at Zion National Park, Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024.
Judge Kohler also attested to the allure of Zion for the ceremony, noting Methodist minister Frederick Vining Fische named the sandstone monoliths on the west side of the park’s main canyon the Court of the Patriarchs after Biblical prophets Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in 1916.
“It reminds me of the wonderful stories of those people, especially Abraham, who left a difficult place and found a promised land,” Kohler remarked at the ceremony. “I hope that you find your promised land here in America.”
In his remarks, Zion Superintendent Jeff Bradybaugh extolled the role of national parks in commemorating much of the best America has to offer and reminding citizens of the lessons Americans have learned from the nation’s struggles to grow and improve.
Now, he continued, the 40 new citizens have a personal stake in Zion and America’s national parks.
“We invite you to volunteer and join us in the care of these parks,” Bradybaugh said, “because while you have traveled and signed as a visitor today, you will leave as an owner.”
