NORTHAMPTON — When he arrived to the United States from the Dominican Republic in 2019, Juan Luis said he felt “reborn.”

“I’m feeling thankful because my life really changed when I moved to the United States,” said Luis, who currently works as a barber in Worcester. “My wife came first and she petitioned for me [to come to the states].”

Now in Luis’s hands are the documents that validate what he’s felt from the moment he stepped foot on U.S. soil — he’s home.

Luis is one of 53 people from 27 countries around the world who celebrated Independence Day outside the Hampshire County Courthouse and took the Oath of Allegiance to the United States to become new U.S. citizens. The Center for New American’s 17th annual July 4 Citizenship Ceremony brought an audience of family and friends, as well as many Northampton residents, to witness the momentous occasion. A couple people held signs that read “you belong” as the new citizens received their certificates.

“It’s really important that we here today say to our new American citizens, we truly welcome you. We need you as new citizens and you belong here,” said Judge Katherine Robertson, who presided over the naturalization ceremony. “There are many more proud moments and for your families and for your loved ones, as you participate in a new life and as you exercise the rights and obligations of citizenship, including the right to vote, which you have earned.”

Some people attended the event in red, white and blue attire, raising small American flags while Juila Suriano sang the national anthem, “America the Beautiful” and “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee.” The crowd erupted in applause as new citizens took their oath and received their certficates.

“I think it’s more emotional than I thought it was gonna be,” said Juan Jose Carazo, originally from Costa Rica and who took the oath alongside his wife. “Seeing the participation of the people, it’s amazing.”

While some new citizens, like Luis, looked forward to applying for his passport, most people expressed their excitement to finally vote. Ojas Mehta began his citizenship process 14 years ago when his father first applied. His father finally took the oath a month ago at the naturalization ceremony at UMass Amherst, and now it was Mehta’s turn to partake.

“When you’re born into citizenship, you kind of take it for granted a little bit,” Dharini Kapadia said, who came to support Mehta. “I feel so it’s really cool to see how much effort they put in to actually be granted that, so to speak.”

Just as the new citizens’ hope and belief in the country’s values brought them to this ceremony, Laurie Millman, executive director of Center for New Americans and Northampton Mayor Gina-Lousie Sciarra both expressed the importance of upholding democracy and the rights bestowed upon all natural-born and naturalized citizens in the U.S. Constitution to honor the new citizens’ determination.

“If you can believe in it so strongly to have worked this hard, then we cannot take that for granted or do anything less than fight like hell to preserve the very basis of the founding of this democracy,” Sciarra said.

The Center for New Americans provides educational and support services to immigrants, including English classes, immigration legal aid and job support. Elizabeth Sanchez, a child education student at Holyoke Community College, arrived to the U.S. from the Dominican Republic to continue her studies and live near her 50 aunts, uncles and cousins in Turners Falls and Greenfield. She began taking English classes with the nonprofit, and then sought out their legal services to navigate the citizenship process. Sanchez said she’s grateful to finally become a U.S. citizen.

Others, like Rosie Landry, who arrived to the U.S. from the Philippines five years ago, expressed how proud she was to be at the courthouse. Berkys Jimenez, who waited almost a decade for this moment, immigrated to the U.S. from the Dominican Republic after her daughter petitioned on her behalf.

“It’s very exciting to become a citizen today,” Jimenez said. “I’m happy, for my family and myself.”

Emilee Klein can be reached at eklein@gazettenet.com.