

On Tuesday, July 6, the United States Citizenship and Immigration services, Des Moines Field Office, held a naturalization ceremony with the Southern District of Iowa, Des Moines Federal court, on the field at Principal Park.
The ceremony for 23 candidates — representing 14 different countries — started at 6:30 p.m. These are the new citizens:
Valentina Husza,r Serbia
Sunil Sunam, Nepal
Lora Han Yu, China
Niyondiko Pascal, Burundi
Augustine Momoton Mulbah, Liberia
Jesus Yepez Jr, Mexico
Edwin Sarmiento, El Salvador
Rose Le, Vietnam
Nshimirimana Petro Faida, Burundi
Mekonen Solomun Enderias, Eritrea
James Dweh Ragland Sr, Liberia
Larry Trinh, Vietnam
Shoghla Amiri, Afghanistan
Princy Joachim Kaniki, Congo (Kinshasa)
Miguel Solano Hernandez, Mexico
Ahmad Yara Ebrahimi, Afghanistan
Karson Kha Le, Vietnam
John San Cung Ceu, Burma
Khrih Thawng Ceu, Burma
Eva Luna Ramos, Mexico
Veronica Garcia, Mexico
Prabin Baraily, Nepal
Viktoriya Blidchenko, Ukraine
The Iowa Cubs first hosted a citizenship ceremony in 2009. It is now an annual event, with 396 new citizens welcomed during the first 12 years.
Last year due to COVID-19 restrictions this event was held on September 17, 2020 — Constitution Day — This event replaced the traditional July 4 pre-game ceremony as the Iowa Cubs 2020 season was canceled. Per the City of Des Moines guidelines, masks were worn by the attendees and their guests and social distancing was practiced as the candidates were spread out all over the baseball field.
Also last summer, Principal Park hosted an informal Citizenship Week, June 22-26, when 487 new citizens were naturalized in a drive-thru process outside the stadium. Also this year a similar drive-thru event on June 24 helped naturalize 141 new citizens.