30 Immigrants to Gain U.S. Citizenship Status in Missoula this Thursday

This Thursday, June 10, immigrants from countries as diverse as Russia, Sweden, the People’s Republic of China and the United Kingdom will gather to become U.S. citizens in Missoula.

"We've got a naturalization ceremony at which 30 immigrants, who originally came from 13 different countries will be sworn in as new U.S. citizens," said U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services spokesman Tim Counts. "We do this once or twice a year in Missoula and it's a nice event. It's actually open to the public and if anybody is interested in attending it is actually a pretty entertaining and quick ceremony."

The ceremony will begin at 11 a.m. at the Russell smith courthouse in Missoula. Tim says more and more immigrants are being naturalized in Montana and other inter-mountain west states.

"Usually, in a typical year in Montana, it's about 300 people," counts said. "Many people don't think of states like Montana as being a place where immigrants go, but things have really changed over the last 20 years and immigrants really are spreading throughout the country and making their homes everywhere."

Last year, 325 immigrants became nationalized U.S. Citizens in Montana. That compares to 1,384 in Idaho, 377 in North Dakota and 220 in Wyoming. Nationwide, there were 777,000 immigrants who became U.S. citizens in 2013.

Tim Counts: