DES MOINES, IA (KCCI/CNN) - What’s more American than baseball? Thirty women and men, from 18 different countries, becoming American citizens at a baseball game.
From Somalia to Mexico, they stood together Monday night. Some were excited, others nervous and their motivations for citizenship vary. But they were all swearing the same oath.
Diana Ameprosa is from American Samoa.
“This December makes two years of me being here in Iowa. I love my island, but there’s not that many opportunities out there," she said.
Ameprosa is supporting her family back home financially, and she hopes to bring her mother, who has never left the island, to Iowa.
Others, including a new citizen named Bipin, are looking to start a new adventure of their own.
“I came from the southeast Asian country Nepal,” Bipin said. “I see new gates ahead of me.”
Ameprosa and Bipin, though seemingly different, stood at the front of the line, beside each other, for a reason.
They have both served in the US Army.
Though they’ve already offered their service to this country, they’ve now got the papers to make their pledge official. So do the other 28 who all became citizens on the eve of the Fourth of July.
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