INDIANAPOLIS — Independence Day is a chance for Americans to celebrate their country and dozens of immigrants can now celebrate it as American citizens.
98 men and women were naturalized at the Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site on Wednesday.
WATCH | New American citizens read the Oath of Allegiance to the United States
They include Veronica Lyons, who came to America from Ecuador in 2014.
"I came to the United States to study," Lyons said. "It gives you wonderful opportunities that I was not able to have in Ecuador."
Lyons eventually married and had two children with her husband. She's excited to put down roots in Indiana as an official American.
"I built my life here and this country is just amazing," Lyons said. "I became a resident and decided, 'It's time for me to become a citizen because this is home for me.'"
Kuntal Bhatacharrya moved to the United States from India in 2001 and is now a professor at Indiana State University. He said one moment inspired him to stay in the United States.
"When I held my son in my arms for the first time when he was born," Bhatacharrya said. "I told myself, 'Hmm, it's possibly the time where I start thinking about making this place my home.'"
His son, Ahan, is now a midshipman at the United States Naval Academy. Ahan attended his father's citizenship ceremony in full uniform and pinned an American flag pin over his father's heart after it concluded.
"I'm very happy to be serving my country," Ahan Bhatacharrya said. "I'm proud that we're all Americans now."
The most-represented countries of origin at the naturalization ceremony were Burma, India, Haiti and Mexico.
