Becoming a U.S. citizen is a big deal, and that's exactly why nearly 3,000 people showed up at the Memorial Auditorium Thursday, Feb. 20. The approximately 900 new citizens crowded the auditorium, while their families and onlookers sat in the balcony to witness the event.

Doors opened at 7 a.m., but the ceremony took place at 10 a.m. By 11:15, the new citizens were out the door, many in line for a social security card. Outside the Memorial Auditorium, representatives from the Republican and Democratic parties registered new voters, and vendors sold frames for the citizenship certificates.

The line, which nearly reached all the way around the block, was filled with many people speaking in their native tongues. In fact, when approached, many did not want to talk, or could not answer questions in English.

Michael Biggs, Field Office Director for US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) in Sacramento, which oversees the administration of the naturalization ceremony says, "upwards of 60-80 countries may be represented" at each ceremony.

Biggs added, "It's a very diverse crowd. Sacramento has a lot of ethnic and nationality diversity. Certainly there are more Mexican and Central American citizens than anybody else. One of the things we do during the ceremony is we call out the countries and everybody cheers when they hear their country. It helps celebrate diversity, and give them a sense of community, since at the end we declare them all American."

Jenny Ang, a young woman from Hong Kong, said she was "relieved" to finally be a citizen. "Now I'll have benefits like retirement." Before getting in line, she registered to vote and later said that she liked Obama.

Victor, who did not want to give his last name, said that he came from Russia 11 years ago and feels "good" to be a citizen. He was not able to speak much English and didn't register to vote.

One man, said Biggs, "tried to get everybody's autographs. This was an older gentleman, and he wanted my autograph and he wanted to capture the event forever. To him it was as big as being at the Oscars, maybe bigger. "

Two years ago the Sacramento USCIS started having only 300 people per month to naturalize. They used to have the ceremony at the courthouse, then when the numbers increased, they were forced to move to the Crest Theatre. Then the cost of naturalization was going up roughly around Jan. 2008, so everyone rushed to apply before the fee increased, and the Sacramento USCIS started having about 2000 people per month for a time.

"We were kind of scared, but we moved to the Memorial Auditorium, since it's the only venue large enough in town that's downtown and inside," said Biggs.

The staff, who are comprised of part paid workers and part volunteers, will increasingly be comprised of volunteers in the future. Biggs hopes to have more high school students volunteer as community service to assist the recent average of roughly 1000 new citizens per month.

As for the ceremony itself, which begins at 10:00 a.m. usually begins with someone singing the "Star Spangled Banner." Someone else may sing "America the Beautiful," then a guest speaker will speak for five minutes (this week it was congresswoman Doris Matsui), then the judge swears in the citizens, then a new citizen will lead the rest in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. Eventually president Obama will have a video where he welcomes new citizens.

Next month's ceremony, taking place on March 18th at 10:00 a.m. will have a local high school band and choir performing at the ceremony. A student from the high school who recently won the school's public speech competition will give the keynote speech.

The monthly event, according to the Sacramento Convention Center website, "has been impacting morning rush hour and parking in the downtown area. Please expect delays before and after these ceremonies and allow extra travel/parking time."