Hundreds become U.S. citizens on the Fourth of July

Two-hundred and seventy-five people representing 99 different countries are now U.S. citizens after getting naturalized on the Fourth of July.

"Oh, I'm so happy for it," Mirrna Perez said. "I was dreaming about this for a long time."

Perez says the hardest part about becoming a citizen was having to work through the language barrier.

"My dream is to speak like real good English and I just keep studying and doing the school," she said.

Perez now says now that she's a U.S. citizen, her goals are endless.

"I want to keep studying and do a lot of things right here in the United States," she said.

They each have a plan of their own, but one thing in common is they're all no officially U.S. citizens.

"Excited for more changes and I will have a lot more opportunities for my kids, too," Gideon Pia said.

Pia says the process of becoming a citizen takes five months from application to being sworn in.

"It was great, we were assisted and we were all given this information that we needed to have," Pia said.

Now, it's time to celebrate in good ol' Fourth of July fashion.

Since last Thursday, 7,000 new citizens have been sworn in throughout the country.