On June 11, 2008, Boston Red Sox star David Ortiz joined more than 225 other individuals, representing 57 different countries, as they became America’s newest citizens. Throughout the year the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library is honored to serve as the site where more than 1200 people from countries around the world become new citizens of the United States of America. John F. Kennedy – America’s first Irish-Catholic president – whose own great-grandparents immigrated to the United States from Ireland – observed in his book, A Nation of Immigrants that “everywhere immigrants have enriched and strengthened the fabric of American life.”
All naturalization ceremonies held at the Kennedy Presidential Library are made possibleby the generous support of the Boston Red Sox Foundation. Naturalization ceremonies are held in conjunction with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and the U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts.