CHICAGO (WLS) — Dozens of people took their oath to officially become new citizens on Friday in Chicago. The naturalization ceremony happened as the federal government cracks down on people in the country illegally.

Friday’s ceremony happened at Instituto del Progreso Latino.

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In the heat of a divisive debate over immigration in the United States, 54 foreign nationals completed their years-long journey to legally becoming American citizens. It’s a tedious and expensive process.

In the current political climate, some of the new citizens said their new title of “American” might mean a new world of opportunity.

With a sweeping, sunlit view of the city they will now call a naturalized home, 54 soon-to-be citizens sat patiently seated, moments from a life they’ve dreamed of.

“I feared that this day would never come,” new American citizen Elizabeth Cisneros said.

Arturo Cisneros, a new citizen himself, has returned to watch his grown daughter, Elizabeth, swear the very same oath he took just two months ago.

“I’m really proud because just to reach this point to become a citizen in the U.S. is a lot of work,” Arturo Cisneros said.

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Their oath comes at a particularly strained moment for Latino immigrants in the United States. It’s been especially tense for their community in Chicago, as Immigration and Customs Enforcement rounds up migrants accused of living in the country illegally in it’s so-called “Operation Midway Blitz.”

“I think they are handling the immigration process with a very tough hand,” Elizabeth Cisneros said. “I’m trying to understand why, as a soon-to-be citizen I’m trying to see the other side and what the position our current president is taking.”

It’s a reality not lost on some of the other soon-to-be new citizens who hail from 26 countries, like Nigeria.

“I feel like there’s a better way to treat people,” new American citizen Ugochukwu Ozoemena said. “At the end of the day, the law is the law, but I think there should be some type of humanity when enforcing the law.”

Now, as their first act as American citizens, they vow to defend those Constitutional rights that will now protect them as new Americans, by choice.

“I will always be Mexican. I was born and raised there,” Elizabeth Cisneros said. “But I’m very happy to be part of this community with the same rights as an American.

To even reach the moment where they can swear an oath to the United States Constitution, the 54 candidates for citizenship had to pass an American civics test, correctly answering at least six of 10 questions during an oral interview with a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services officer. So, the new citizens are well-studied and versed on American history and the workings of government.