As the US turns 250, new citizens feel pride and unease: ‘It’s survival’

Yesica McKeone at her citizenship ceremony at the convention center in Pasadena, California, on 16 June. Photograph: Courtesy of Yesica McKeone

In June, Yesica McKeone officially became a US citizen. At the naturalization ceremony, she raised a hand and took the oath of allegiance to a country on the verge of its 250th anniversary. Thousands of new citizens recited the oath alongside her. Some cried softly.

“I’m finally here,” McKeone, 32, remembered thinking about her citizenship journey. At two years old, she left Michoacán, Mexico, with her family and settled in California, where she became a permanent resident. Now, home is a pastoral patch of land in Solvang, in the heart of California’s central coast.