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COVER
Olga Bobko, left, recites the Naturalization Oath.
IMMIGRATION
NEW AMERICANS
Sketches of new U.S. citizens from around the globe who were recently naturalized at the rst-ever ceremony in Glacier National Park
BY TRISTAN SCOTT • PHOTOS BY GREG LINDSTROM
John Lennon. John James Audubon. John Muir.
A Beatle. A birder. A naturalist.
Despite sharing the same rst name, it would seem that these three Johns led distinctly di erent lives. But besides their forenames, they share something else in common, something that is uniquely American — they all immigrated to the United States from somewhere else, and they followed similar paths toward becoming naturalized citizens.
On Sept. 21, 11 other distinctly di erent men and women from diverse corners of the globe followed that same path toward naturalization in an unlikely but appro- priate setting. Gathered along the shores of Lake McDonald in Glacier National Park, the idea for which John Muir is cred- ited with forging in America’s conscious- ness, they denounced “all allegiance and
delity to any foreign prince, potentate, state or sovereignty,” and swore to “sup- port and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.”
“Isn’t it tting that we are here today in Glacier National Park thinking about an individual who inspired Teddy Roos- evelt to the concept of setting aside land for the bene t of the common good?” U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen told the crowd assembled for the naturalization ceremony, the rst of its kind to occur within the boundaries of Glacier Park.
Representing seven di erent coun- tries, the new citizens were sworn in at one of 105 naturalization ceremonies that have taken place on National Park Service land so far in 2016 to mark the federal agency’s centennial anniversary.
“We live in sort of an interesting time,”
Christensen said. “You’d have to be living, I think, up on one of these peaks not to know that we are having a robust debate in this country about what it means to be an immigrant and what it means to be a naturalized citizen.”
Robert Looney, regional director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, said his agency agreed to try to hold 100 naturalization ceremonies in parks and other NPS sites during the centennial year.
“And we’ve already crossed the thresh- old,” Looney said. “We’re now at 105, in some of the most beautiful settings any- one can imagine.”
Their new citizenship comes with both bene ts and responsibilities, said Eric Smith, deputy superintendent of Glacier Park.
“You are all now part owners of this
national park,” Smith said.
Christensen, the chief federal judge for
the district of Montana, explained that his great grandfather, Christian Henning Christensen, immigrated to the United States from Denmark, purchasing train fare for “as far west as it would take him.”
When he reached Missoula, he spot- ted friends from Denmark and decided to stay, even though he was unemployed and had no family there. He found work in the sawmills, as a reman, an electrician, and, eventually, the division manager of the Montana Power Company.
Christensen’s own wife, Stephanie, became a U.S. citizen at a naturalization ceremony two years ago; Canadian born, she, too, immigrated here.
“I mention this not because I think my family’s history is unique, but I mention it for the exact opposite reason, which is
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SEPTEMBER 28, 2016 // FLATHEADBEACON.COM