'A new person': Immigrants gain citizenship during twin ceremonies in Bartow
BARTOW — Melissa Baker looked exultant Friday morning as she clutched a bouquet of flowers and a small American flag, her other arm around her 4-year-old son, Adrian, who wore a Mickey Mouse T-shirt and waved his own flag.
Baker, a native of Colombia, was among about 30 Polk County residents who became American citizens in a naturalization ceremony in a historic courtroom at the county’s former courthouse, now the Polk History Center.
“I feel like I'm a new person,” a beaming Baker, 30, said after the ceremony. “I'm very happy. I feel like this is my home — my real home.”
The Polk History Center hosted the event for the second year, timed to coincide with Constitution Day on Sunday. Baker participated in the first of two ceremonies scheduled for Friday morning.
Applicants for naturalization, many accompanied by their families, arrived to find the old courthouse decorated with flags on its lampposts and ribbons of red, white and blue wrapped around its columns. The candidates, some dressed in church-worthy finery, sat in the jury box and on wooden benches in front of the bar, facing the judge’s bench.
Family members and other witnesses, including Polk County Clerk of the Circuit Court Stacy Butterfield, occupied the gallery.
Myrtice Young, director of the Polk History Center, said last year’s event was thought to be the first naturalization ceremony ever held in Polk County. Young said she scheduled the programs as part of the center’s leadup to the nation’s semiquincentennial, the 250th anniversary celebration in 2026.
“And so I thought it would be really grand, because we are a historical courthouse, to have as one of the features of the pre-semiquincentennial celebration, to start hosting naturalization ceremonies, to give us a chance to push out that civics message of what it means to live in this republic and how it came about it, how you get to be a citizen and how you get to come to the country,” Young said.
Gerald Evans, an officer with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in Tampa, led the applicants through a checklist before the ceremony. Candidates stood to applause as Evans called out their nations of origin, which included Brazil, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Grenada, Haiti, Honduras, Hungary, India, Iran, Italy, Taiwan and Thailand.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Christopher Tuite of the District Court for the Middle District of Florida in Tampa presided over the 25-minute ceremony, leading the applicants in their oath of naturalization. Reciting in unison, the new citizens pledged fidelity to the Constitution and U.S. laws; renounced allegiance to “any foreign prince, potentate, state or sovereignty”; and agreed to bear arms on behalf of their new country or otherwise bolster it when required by law.
Having attained citizenship, the immigrants joined the audience in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, led by two members of the local Daughters of the American Revolution chapter.
In his closing address, Tuite’s voice clogged with emotion as he told the story of his father-in-law, who left his native Greece for America after German forces destroyed his village during World War II. The man, now 95, arrived with no assets and took a job as a dishwasher in a restaurant, quickly becoming a cook and eventually raising three children, one now a doctor and the other two business leaders.
“One generation from nothing comes much,” Tuite said. “But it all started with a belief in this country, to give up everything, their entire family, all remaining roots, and to start anew here.”
One by one, Evans called the new citizens to receive their certificates from Tuite, who offered handshakes and smiles and posed for photos with each of them. Some of the immigrants grinned, and others wore expressions reflecting the solemnity of their achievement.
Afterward, the Polk History Center hosted a reception in the 1926 courtroom, where newly naturalized citizens munched on cookies, sipped punch and posed for photos with family members.
Baker, a Davenport resident, knelt beside her son as her mother-in-law snapped photos with her phone. Baker is a medical school graduate doing her residency in pathology with Orlando Health.
Baker, who is married to an American citizen, said she came to the United States five years ago.
“I don't have anything in Colombia,” she said. “I came here looking for something different. I'm extremely happy. This country gave me everything — gave me my husband, my son. I have everything here.”
A huge cultural impact Polk County arts group will induct six into Hall of Fame
Ana Nunez, an immigrant from Honduras, enjoyed the moment with her husband, Heber, and their children, ages 7, 11 and 12. Asked what her new citizenship meant to her, Nunez paused to consider.
“It’s security for my family and a future for my kids,” she said.
Nunez, a Davenport resident, said she was stirred by the ceremony.
“I was very emotional because we have so many opportunities here,” she said.
Some of the applicants adopted new names as American citizens. Raquel Gregianin explained that she used two family names in her native Brazil but pared her official American identity to a single surname.
Prakash Daniel, a Winter Haven resident, stood with a group of supporters from his congregation, Liberty Worship Church of Wahneta. Daniel, a native of India, said he moved to the United States and married an American, Charity Hill, in 2017. Tragically, she died a year later in a vehicle crash.
Daniel, 45, said his journey to American citizenship began with a visit to India by Christian missionaries in his childhood. He eventually became an evangelical minister and now travels the world for his own missions.
When he spoke to Tuite after the ceremony, Daniel told the judge that he appreciated the story of his father-in-law, the Greek immigrant.
“That story really inspired me,” Daniel said.
As for Friday’s milestone, Daniel said, “This is not the end today. This is the beginning.”
Gary White can be reached at gary.white@theledger.com or 863-802-7518. Follow on X @garywhite13.
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: More than 60 immigrants gain citizenship through ceremonies in Bartow
