The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recognized Presidents Day by welcoming over 19,000 people as U.S. citizens through 135 naturalization ceremonies across the country from February 15 through February 22, 2013.

The USCIS press release quoted Director Alejandro Mayorkas:

Throughout our nation’s history, the words and deeds of U.S. presidents have inspired Americans to uphold the ideals of freedom and equality enshrined in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States. For Presidents Day, we welcome 19,000 new citizens who share these same ideals.

The ceremonies began at the California Veterans Memorial in Sacramento, California and carried on to the Theodore Roosevelt Inagural National Historic Site in Buffalo, New York, the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in Parris Island, South Carolina and the B&O Railroad Museum in Baltimore. The final ceremony, which took place February 22, the birthday of the first U.S. president George Washington, was at George Washington’s Mount Vernon Estate, Museum & Gardens in Mount Vernon, Virginia.

U.S. Immigration Fund, a resource for those interested in investing in U.S. real estate developments in exchange for permanent residency through EB-5 visas, was pleased to celebrate Presidents Day by entertaining a group of EB5 Regional Center investors in New York City. Chinese investors whose funds went toward Manhattan projects The Charles and Bryant Park were escorted through the development sites and the surrounding attractions, such as Central Park. The group was introduced to the developers, and discussed plans and timelines.

Those investors also look forward to U.S. immigration, as their contributions will result in their obtainment of green cards for themselves and their families.