75 women take U. S. Oath of Allegiance, become citizens together

RIVERVIEW (FOX 13) - Each year, hundreds of thousands of immigrants become U.S. citizens and, while they come from every corner of the globe, they all must take the same steps during the naturalization process.

The final step in becoming a citizen is taking the United States Oath of Allegiance. Different forms of the oath have been around since 1778.

One group recently took the oath at the WMU Cooley Law School in Riverview. To celebrate women’s history month, the school hosted an all women naturalization ceremony - 75 candidates representing 36 countries.

The current oath is as follows...

"I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God."