Earlier this year, yet another Onondaga County naturalization ceremony was canceled. This time, it was an annual ceremony typically held at the New York State Fair.
United States Citizenship and Immigration Services had not approved enough new citizens to justify holding it, said Judge Deborah Karaulunas.
Rowan Wilson, the Chief Judge of the New York State Court of Appeals, would have presided over that ceremony. It would have been his first time presiding over a naturalization ceremony.
Instead, Wilson chose to have his first at the Ceremonial Courtroom at the Onondaga County Courthouse on Wednesday.
During the ceremony, he traced the etymology of the word “welcome,” which he said had originally referred to the eagerly wished for arrival of a guest.
“It is in that sense that all of us welcome you,” he said. “In an important sense, we have been waiting for you for 250 years.”
While naturalization ceremonies have resumed in Onondaga County after USCIS briefly canceled them in fall 2025, the federal agency told Clerk Emily Essi they have started using a stricter vetting process for naturalization, she said. USCIS provides a list of new citizens to the county clerk before each naturalization ceremony.
As a result, there have been smaller groups of new citizens, Essi said.
Normally, around 40 or 50 people are naturalized at the state fair ceremony in late August. Wednesday’s ceremony saw 19 people naturalized.
“As we celebrate Independence Day this month, we reflect on the freedoms that have inspired generations of people to come to America in search of a better life. Today those freedoms belong to you as well,” said Maria Mahar, the county’s Deputy Commissioner of Adult and Long Term Care Services. She encouraged the new citizens to vote, serve, help neighbors, and leave the community better than they’d found it. “Those everyday acts of citizenship are what keep our community strong.”
Wilson decided last year he wanted to preside over a naturalization ceremony while watching the annual ceremony at the state fair. Wilson runs a booth at the state fair every year.
As people entered the courthouse, Nichole McKenzie played the harp in the corner. As the ceremony began, the court officers’ ceremonial unit marched and posted the colors.
The ceremonial courtroom was full, with new citizens and their families sitting throughout the courtroom and local officials and government workers seated in chairs against the walls. People with cameras roamed the room and new Americans held the quintessential tiny flags often handed out during naturalization ceremonies.
Representatives from the offices of Rep. John Mannion, County Executive Ryan McMahon, and Mayor Sharon Owens each spoke, as did Essi herself.
The recent 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence was a recurring theme in remarks made at the ceremony.
“Your contributions will help shape America’s next 250 years,” Essi said. “As we celebrate this historic anniversary and this incredible milestone in each of your lives, I hope you recognize that you are not just witnessing history. You are becoming part of it.”
Wilson led the citizens-to-be in the citizenship oath, each person pledging to support the constitution, renounce fidelity to other states, and bear arms or do work of national importance when required by law. Then the new citizens and the rest of the room recited the Pledge of Allegiance.
As the harp launched into a patriotic medley of America the Beautiful and Battle Hymn of the Republic, at least two people cried.
Legislature Clerk Hassina Adams read two stories by new Americans that had been written during the preparations for this year’s World Refugee Day celebrations. That celebration had been cut short amid rising threats of deportation to immigrants and refugees.
Then, according to Syracuse tradition, Wilson chose a pop song to play for the country’s newest citizens. He picked “A Safe Place to Land” by Sara Bareilles and John Legend.
Shortly before presenting the new Americans with their certificates of citizenship, Wilson gave his own speech.
Naturalized American citizens can hold any public office except that of the President or Vice President, Wilson pointed out. He traced American legal history of immigration, noting Japanese internment and the Chinese Exclusion Act as particularly unwelcoming points and the signing of the Immigration and Nationality Act as a welcoming one.
He quoted President Barack Obama in calling immigration America’s “origin story” and “oldest tradition,” and urged the new citizens to extend that welcome to others.
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