Celebrating citizenship

by Nikki Tundel, Minnesota Public Radio

Is it cliche to do a story about immigrants becoming official U.S. citizens on the Fourth of July? Maybe. But is that a bad thing?

St. Paul, Minn. — Independence Day brings lots of things. Fireworks. Barbeques. Sunburns. And lots of media stories about new Americans.

It's not uncommon for newspapers, television stations and radio networks to do reports about Fourth of July naturalization ceremonies.

But, as reporter Nikki Tundel discovered, there's a reason why those stories make the news every year. She talked to host Mary Lucia about what it's like to see immigrants and refugees become official, legal, American citizens.

At a naturalization ceremony at the Fort Snelling History Center, Nikki met Igor Yakovlev and his family. They talked about why they left their home country of Azerbaijan and what it feels like to become citizens of the United States.