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Last Updated: Thursday, October 1, 2026 at 07:41 PM
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Welcome to America, and the Immigration Reform Debate!

Immigrants serving in the U.S. military are welcomed as U.S. citizens by President Barack Obama at a ceremony in Korea.
Image: U.S. President Barack Obama poses with new American citizens at a naturalization ceremony at the National War Memorial in Seoul
U.S. President Barack Obama poses with new American citizens at a naturalization ceremony at the National War Memorial in Seoul on April 25.LARRY DOWNING / Reuters

President Barack Obama kept up the immigration reform drumbeat Friday at a naturalization ceremony for military members and their spouses in Seoul, Korea.

The president attended the ceremony for 13 service members and seven military spouses before laying a wreath at the War Memorial of Korea.

Obama told the immigrants, sworn in after his speech, that “what makes us Americans . . . is a joyful spirit of citizenship.” He said to keep attracting the best and brights, smartest and selfless the country must keep in mind “the value of our immigrants to our way of life.”

“It is central to who we are; it’s in our DNA. It’s part of our creed. And that means moving forward, we’ve got to fix our broken immigration system and pass common-sense immigration reform.

The immigrants who took their citizenship oaths Friday came from Belize, Canada, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Jamaica, Japan, Nepal, Palau, Philippines, South Africa, South Korea and Zimbabwe.

The U.S. territory of America Samoa, whose residents are American nationals but not U.S. citizens, was also represented.