Eleven trainees and one sergeant will become U.S. citizens during a naturalization ceremony Thursday at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island when U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) administers the Oath of Allegiance. The ceremony marks the expansion to the Marines of the USCIS Naturalization at Basic Training initiative. Under this initiative, USCIS conducts all naturalization processing — including collecting application forms, conducting the naturalization interview, and administering the Oath of Allegiance — on the military base so that the recruit is able to graduate from basic training as a U.S. citizen. The program is already in place with the Army, Navy and Air Force.

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