BANGOR, Maine — Saadiya Boutote has studied American government for 10 years, and it has always left her feeling a little helpless. During her journey through Rutgers University in New Jersey, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in political science and a master’s degree in public administration, she’s never been able to vote.
That’s why the 31-year-old native of Zimbabwe was among 27 immigrants from 21 countries who became U.S. citizens on Friday, swearing before two federal court judges to protect and defend the U.S. Constitution and renounce all former national allegiances, she said.
Boutote looks forward to voting.
“It was difficult being a political science student and not being able to participate. I was in limbo,” Boutote said Friday. “You want to be a part of things.”
“I feel like I almost have more rights,” she added. “I have more skin in the game.”
Most of the 27 new Americans seemed to have roots here already, but familiarity with America doesn’t necessarily make them all that comfortable. President Donald Trump’s attempted crackdown on illegal immigration, and attempted restriction of legal immigration from six Muslim-majority nations, leaves immigrants with an air of uncertainty, Boutote said.
“It’s a precarious situation right now,” she said. “There’s a little gray area [with immigrants] because they are not sure of what their rights are and whether they will be accepted.”
Yet Mainers have been very welcoming, Buotote said.
“I think generally, people are not of the current mindset being promoted by the president,” she said.
Held twice annually at Bangor’s U.S. District Court, Friday’s ceremony was very inviting. Cell phone cameras popped up regularly in the gallery as the 27 guests of the court sat patiently. Laughter, music — courtesy of the Bangor High School chamber choir — and a baby’s occasional coos and cries mingled as U.S. Magistrate Judge John Nivison’s presided over the ceremony.
“One of the fears of following something that impressive,” Nivison said of the choir’s collection of patriotic songs and quotations, “is trying to answer the question, how do I follow something as impressive as that?”
Nivison and Chief U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Michael A. Fagone, who sat in on the ceremony, seemed to want it to be fondly remembered. Nivison encouraged the new Americans to pose with them afterward for photographs, but he drew laughter when he made it clear that his authority as a judge stopped well short of making that an order.
“You are not required to take pictures,” Nivison said, “because as Americans, you do not need to do what you do not want to do.”
By becoming Americans, the immigrants were making their own declaration of independence, Nivison said. He encouraged them to bring their culture and languages with them into their new country, saying that by taking the oath, they had automatically become as worthy as any other citizen.
“By becoming American citizens,” Nivison said, “you have made your own declaration of independence.”
Fred Granger of Owls Head was there to see his girlfriend, 52-year-old Nud Simmons, take the oath. Most of the new Americans had been here for many years and already had jobs or spouses. A former flatware saleswoman, Simmons said she planned to work for her sister’s restaurant in Belfast as a waitress. The 31-year-old Boutote, who is several months pregnant and married to Ryan F. Boutote of Belmont, works as an analyst at Athena Health of Belfast.
The 4-foot-eight Simmons smiled and waved to the crowd before bowing to the judges — a Thai sign of respect, she said. To qualify as an American citizen, the 27 had to pass a 100-question civics test and a background check. Simmons, who speaks English fluently but with a pronounced Thai accent, said she studied American civics and history for hours, with a dictionary at hand, to pass the test.
“I bet that most Americans can’t answer most of the questions they had to learn,” the 75-year-old Granger said.
Granger photographed the ceremony with an iPad when he wasn’t showing off pictures of Simmons. One of 10 children born in Thailand, Simmons’ sister, Sungkamanee “Rose” Chaunchom of Rockland, emigrated from Thailand 20 years ago as a magazine journalist and became a cook in a Boston restaurant for 13 years. She opened her restaurant, Roselyn Thai Fine Cuisine, in Rockland seven years ago.
This jibes with the dreams, and the accomplishments, of many immigrants. Studies by the Kauffman Foundation formed by the late pharmaceuticals baron and Kansas City Royals owner Ewing Marion Kauffman show that immigrants are nearly twice as likely to become an entrepreneur as a native-born American. Kauffman found that from 2006 to 2012, more than two-fifths of the startup tech companies in Silicon Valley had at least one foreign-born founder.
Simmons, Chaunchom and Boutote emigrated, they said, partly to escape poverty and hyperinflation in their native lands.
“It was so bad that you could not budget for the next day,” Boutote said of Zimbabwe. “You could buy bread for one price in the morning, and by the evening, it was a different price.”
Chaunchom said she was glad her sister, who is building a home with Granger in Owls Head, is now a citizen.
“I love the American people,” Simmons said. “They are very friendly, there’s a lot of kindness [in them] for another country and another people.”