As several naturalization ceremonies have been canceled or stalled nationwide following the Trump administration’s travel restrictions to certain countries, Colorado Springs greeted 29 new citizens Thursday.

Held inside a former courtroom at the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum, the naturalization ceremony welcomed people from 14 countries, serving as a stark contrast to immigration hurdles others are facing.

According to reporting from CBS News, lawyers for legal aid groups and individuals seeking citizenship reported that naturalization interviews and oath ceremonies are being canceled, sometimes at the last moment for people born in 19 countries listed in a travel ban or restriction the White House issued in June.

President Donald Trump and his administration expanded the list Tuesday, adding five more countries to the ban list and 15 more to restricted travel. The ban list also included people traveling on documents issued by the Palestinian Authority.

The move is part of ongoing efforts by the administration to tighten U.S. entry standards for travel and immigration. Some critics told The Associated Press that the decision unfairly prevents travel for people from a broad range of countries.

Immediately following the killing of a National Guardsman in Washington, D.C., over Thanksgiving weekend, Trump said in a post on Truth Social that he would “permanently pause migration from all Third World Countries” and “terminate all of the millions of Biden illegal admissions.”

Almost a week later, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services issued a pause and review of all immigration asylum cases. The pause applies to approvals and denials of all form types, including final adjudications of all cases for individuals from the countries listed in the June travel bans and restrictions.

A nation of immigrants

At the last stage of a bureaucratic journey that can take years, naturalization ceremonies are often emotional times as people make the final steps to becoming a citizen.

A naturalized citizen himself, Colorado Springs Mayor Yemi Mobolade said during the ceremony that the nation was built on people coming from different places around the globe.

"I want to say this clearly: We are still a nation of immigrants," he told the newly naturalized citizens.

After Trump took office, 51-year-old Kathy Garner said she was rushing to get to that final stage in fear of being deported, even though the Australian national has been in the country on a green card for 18 years.

"Until this was finalized, I refused to leave the country even to go to Canada," she said. "Even though I was legal to be here, I just didn't trust the process. At any time, I feared I would have my green card taken away from me."

Garner was one of 29 applicants who were naturalized at the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum in downtown. She spoke to the crowd of new citizens, saying she was proud they all persevered through the stress and hardships that come from being naturalized.

A feeling of patriotism filled the courtroom, which exploded in cheers and clapping after the immigrants took an Oath of Allegiance to the United States and were finally naturalized.

Children were dressed in suits and dresses as they waved small American flags, and some people in the audience were in tears while they watched their family members finish a journey that often takes years.

But the ceremony had a dark undertone to it as the ever-divisive topic of immigration grows in America.

Garner said she was lucky her home country wasn't on that list of banned countries because she believes she wouldn't have been naturalized if it were.

"We live in a world where, most of the time, we're focused on a lot of our differences — on things that divide us," U.S. Magistrate Judge Maritza Dominguez Braswell said during the ceremony. "But we do need to take a minute every once in a while to focus on the things that make us the same."

As a child of naturalized citizens, Dominguez Braswell said in an interview that people need to focus on the shared love they have for the country more than the perceived things that divide them.

To her, the ceremony is special because it serves as a reminder that each U.S. citizen shares that connection.

A moment at the end of the ceremony encapsulated that sentiment when she asked people in the audience to raise their hand if they were a naturalized citizen or parents of one.

"An overwhelming number of people raised their hands. There's a lot of people in this country who have similar stories to share," Dominguez Braswell said. "There's always something that can feel heavy or difficult, but through all of that, we can choose to find happiness, love, warmth and connection with each other."

The start of a long journey to citizenship

For Garner, the naturalization process was an eight-month journey that was stressful at times but mostly easygoing compared to others.

Purvi Vaghela, 38, started the process over a decade ago.

As the daughter-in-law of former Colorado Secretary of State Wayne Williams, Vaghela emigrated from India to pursue a degree at the University of Colorado Anschutz for a career as a dentist.

While there, she met Sean Williams and later married him. After getting married, she filed for a green card, which took two years. The process to citizenship took several more.

Thursday marked years of studying for civics tests, interviews, long wait times and two ceremony reschedulings because of the recent government shutdown for Vaghela.

After the ceremony, she said she was proud and thankful. "Don't lose hope," she said in encouragement to others going through immigration hurdles.

The former secretary of state weighed in on the current climate, saying an issue today is that people just aren't talking to each another. In his state position, Williams said he often came to speak at these ceremonies, and Thursday was a reminder that immigrants bring diversity of thought and add more to the conversation.

The day was made even more special to him because he was seeing his daughter-in-law become a citizen in the same room where he became a lawyer years ago.

"Our legal immigration process isn't as efficient as it should be," Williams said. "The concept that it takes so long is frustrating ... (but) one of the reasons I love speaking at these ceremonies is you see the embracing of people from many different cultures and backgrounds."