More than 200 become U.S. citizens during Las Vegas soccer match

By Candese Charles

On August 12, 2023

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — More than 200 people took to Cashman Field on Saturday to celebrate a moment many say they’ve waited years for.

“Here, I’m giving myself a better life, a better opportunity, with love,” new citizen, Natalie Fridland said.

She joined about 240 others in graduating with US citizenship in a naturalization ceremony during the halftime of the Las Vegas Lights soccer match.

Fridland moved to the U.S. after meeting her then-boyfriend, now husband, on a trip.

The new citizens originate from 53 countries, Fridland is from Israel.

“I love my country very much and I’m very happy that the United States of America and the state of Israel are very good friends with each other! We are like sisters we need to take care of each other,” Fridland said.

New opportunities are what many of the new citizens said they came to America for. Roger Balle says his family also immigrated to America to escape the war.

“It was a dangerous place in that area, at that time,” Balle said.

He came from El Salvador in the 80s. It took him 17 years to get to that moment on Cashman field on Saturday.

U.S. Senator, Catherine Cortez Masto, the first Latina in the US Senate, welcomed him and the other new citizens after U.S. Federal Judge, Andrew Gordon, administered the Oath of Allegiance.

“This is the same as my family when they came to this country, it’s about that American dream! That opportunity to succeed,” Senator Masto said.

The first step to a lifetime of possibilities in America.

Immigrants may be eligible to become naturalized citizens of America once they have lived in the U.S. as legal permanent residents for at least five years. In order to take the citizenship oath in Nevada, they have to have lived in-state for at least three months.