For More Information Contact:
Catherine Durland (845) 486-2133 cdurland@dutchessny.gov
Poughkeepsie, New York: Dutchess County Clerk Bradford H. Kendall will host a Naturalization Ceremony and administer the Oath of Allegiance to thirty-five attendees representing twenty countries. The event will be held on Friday, June 2, 2017 at 1:30 in the afternoon at the Henry A. Wallace Visitor and Education Center, 4079 Albany Post Road in the Town of Hyde Park. The Honorable Peter M. Forman, Dutchess County Court and Acting Supreme Court Justice, will preside over the ceremony.
New York State Assemblyman Kieran Michael Lalor will deliver the keynote address. Lalor was elected to the New York State Assembly in 2012. A former teacher at Our Lady of Lourdes in Poughkeepsie, Kieran is a Marine Corps veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom, a frequent guest on the Fox News Channel and the host of Issues & Interviews, a weekly radio show on 1450 WKIP. He is a graduate of John Jay High School, Providence College and Pace Law School. Lalor is an attorney with the firm of Wallace & Wallace LLP and lives in Hopewell Junction with his wife Mary Jo and their four young children: Katie, Riley, Mikey and Kieran Jr.
Naturalization is the process by which U.S. citizenship is conferred upon a foreign citizen or national after he or she fulfills the requirements established by Congress in the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). The bureau of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) processes all naturalization applications and provides the clerk’s office with a list of the candidates selected to be naturalized. All petitioners must then participate in a Naturalization Ceremony and swear to the Oath of Allegiance in a formal court proceeding. At that time, they can change their names legally to have their new names appear on the Certificate of Naturalization.
The Dutchess County Clerk’s Office is honored to take part in the final step of the naturalization process. In Dutchess County, naturalization ceremonies are held bi-monthly to induct new citizens of the United States of America.
The ceremony is open to the public and all are invited to attend.
