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Twenty-nine Ogden-area residents are another step closer to becoming United States citizens. They graduated from Ogden’s Participate, Apply, Test, Help to Citizenship program on May 28. The 12-week PATH program combines citizenship classes at the Weber County Main Library, financial support for application fees, legal help from Catholic Community Services and child care from My Hometown Ogden.
The graduates are already legal permanent residents. They received diplomas, U.S. flags and mini Statues of Liberty to celebrate. Most face one last hurdle to citizenship: the interview – including civics and English tests, administered by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services.
Dahily Dominguez, a lunch lady in the Weber School District, has lived in the U.S. for 11 years but put off becoming a naturalized citizen until now. She said increased fears of deportation motivated her to start the process.
“I don’t want to go back to my country because my family is here. So it did scare me a little and that’s what gave me the push I needed to start the citizenship process,” she said in Spanish.
“No quiero regresar a mi país porque mi familia está aquí. Entonces sí me dio un poco de miedo y eso fue lo que me dio el empujón que necesitaba para poder empezar todo este trámite de la ciudadanía.”
Learning U.S. history was hard, Dominguez said, especially in her second language. She thinks becoming a citizen will help her overcome her worries about immigration issues.
Classmate Lisbeth Carr is eager to complete the interview and tests. She expects citizenship will bring increased confidence.
“I feel like I’ve accomplished a lot here and I want to keep accomplishing a lot more,” she said. That includes helping kids learn Spanish at East Ridge Elementary School, where she’s a staff assistant.
“Siento que he logrado muchas cosas aquí y quiero seguir logrando muchas más.”
Carr has lived in Ogden for about four years. When she came, she fell in love with the mountains, her home and school. After completing PATH, she said she loves the United States and Ogden even more. She also met wonderful people, she said, including the police and fire chief during civic engagement lessons, along with her classmates.
“I feel blessed with this,” she said.
“Me he sentido bendecida con esto.”
Utah’s sole United States Citizenship and Immigration Services field office is in Salt Lake City. Between October 2022 and December 2024, its number of naturalization applications has trended upward, from 1,240 per quarter to over 2,100. Nationally, almost 90% of applicants pass the test on their first attempt.
Green card holders live and work legally in the U.S., but many of the graduates look forward to gaining the right to vote with citizenship. Laura and Carlos Morales, accountants who’ve lived in the U.S. since 2000, said that will be the biggest difference.
“The opportunity to participate actively in elections is a change that’s exciting,” Carlos said.
“La oportunidad de participar activamente en las votaciones es un cambio que pues se emociona.”
Ease of travel was on Lindsey Pointer’s mind. Originally from South Africa, she’s lived in Utah for about five years and the U.S. for 11.
“The U.S. itself has a lot of territories that I could go to being a U.S. citizen without visas being an issue,” she said. “That's a huge, huge opportunity, seeing different places that I wouldn't necessarily have been able to do.”
The Ogden City Council voted in January to make the program permanent, but the city has yet to secure outside funding for next year. Diana Lopez, community outreach coordinator for the Ogden Police Department, took over the program earlier this year. She said PATH will be back next year. The question is how many naturalization applications they’ll be able to fund.
“We are cautiously optimistic,” she said.
In the meantime, the library’s next round of citizenship classes begins August 20 at the Main Library and August 21 at the Southwest Branch. The classes are free and will not include the financial and legal support and child care provided through the PATH to Citizenship program.
Disclosure: The Weber County Library is a supporter of KUER.
Macy Lipkin is a Report for America corps member who reports for KUER in northern Utah.
