News Release

Citizenship Ceremony at Roger Williams National Memorial

News Release Date: September 27, 2019 On September 17th, 2019, Roger Williams National Memorial in Providence, RI was the scene for the welcoming of 20 new United States Citizens. This event was the 9th year in a row that the memorial and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services have celebrated Citizenship Day.

Roger Williams National Memorial is an especially appropriate venue for this ceremony, as Roger Williams fled England in 1630 only to have Massachusetts Bay Colony authorities expel him 5 years later for his ‘new and dangerous opinions’. He insisted that faith was too important to be tied to something like Government. He had seen the way that binding government and church together had only resulted in corruption and bloodshed. He would not repeat the mistakes of England in this New World.

Williams founded a civil colony called Rhode Island with a complete separation of Church and State, and one where civil government received its power from the people. Williams and his ideals inspired the founding fathers, and are reflected in the Preamble and First Amendment of the US Constitution. The 19 new citizens now also enjoy the constitution’s guarantees of these rights.

USSCIS presented citizenship candidates to the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island during the ceremony. The 20 new citizens represent 15 different countries. Magistrate Judge Lincoln D. Almond presided.

This ceremony is one of over 316 ceremonies welcoming more than 34,300 new citizens at Constitution Day and Citizenship Day ceremonies across the nation between Sept. 13 and 23 this year.

Roger Williams National Memorial was established by Congress in 1965 to commemorate the life of the founder of Rhode Island who was a champion of the ideals of religious freedom and liberty of conscience. The memorial’s visitor center is wheelchair accessible and free of charge. For more information, call the visitor center at 401-521-7266 or visit www.nps.gov/rowi.