On March 3rd, the City of Tulsa hosted a naturalization ceremony at the Cox Business Convention Center for one hundred new American citizens. Mayor G.T. Bynum gave a welcoming speech to those assembled, celebrating “Tulsa and Oklahoma and the United States as beacons of freedom and opportunity.”

Mayor Bynum’s message celebrating freedom and liberty was inconsistent with a requirement made by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that facilitated the ceremony. The Department stipulated that the new citizens and their guests attending the ceremony wear facial covering. All attendees were required to wear face masks and were socially distanced in seats placed a minimum of six feet apart. Failure to comply resulted in expulsion from the ceremony.

Gregor Macpherson, an immigrant from Scotland, attended the ceremony with his wife, Casey. The couple observed that the event was “sterile and depressing,” far from the welcoming environment touted by Mayor Bynum. After waiting in line for hours, Mrs. Macpherson related that “some people I spoke with expressed fear at having their naturalization taken away if they didn’t comply” with the requirement to wear a mask.

While Mr. Macpherson submitted to the mask requirement, his wife declined to do so after she was confronted by Ruth Young with DHS who offered her a mask that had been handled without gloves leaving it less than sterile. Mrs. Macpherson stated that after being inside the Cox Center for over two hours, she was escorted from the hall where the ceremony was to be held and told she must wear a mask or leave.

The CDC dropped the federal mask requirement on February 28th for federal buildings including the US Capitol where the State of the Union was held on Tuesday, March 1st before a predominantly unmasked House Chamber. When this fact was noted by Mr. and Mrs. Macpherson to Ms. Young with DHS, she invited Mr. Macpherson to “complete his naturalization at another time.” The couple took this as a thinly veiled threat to prevent him from taking his citizenship oath.

Mrs. Macpherson was not allowed to see her husband sworn in as an American citizen. She commented on the irony of the conflicting messages of Freedom versus Government Mandates saying that the message to the new citizens was basically this: “Welcome to America! Comply with our arbitrary and tyrannical mandates to prove you’re a good little citizen or we will make life hard for you.” The Macphersons stated that they felt threatened and left the ceremony concerned for their safety.

In addition to the concern for the new citizens’ rights, organizations attending the event were likewise required to comply with the mask mandate. Those in attendance included such groups as League of Women Voters, Resilient Tulsa, and other organizations aligned with the Kaiser Foundation.

U.S. citizens, new and old alike, need to be aware of their rights as found in the US Constitution’s Bill of Rights such as the Fourth Amendment’s requirement for being secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects; and the Fifth Amendment’s stipulation that citizens not be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law; and likewise the Fourteenth Amendment’s provision that States not enforce any law that abridges the privileges or immunities of a US citizen.

When asked what City Ordinance, State Law, or Federal Law stipulated the wearing of masks at the naturalization ceremony, Ms. Young with DHS could not provide an answer other than the Department chose to enforce the stipulation..