Nearly 4,500 current and former U.S. military service members, as well as family members, will be sworn in as U.S. citizens as part of Veterans Day 2021. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) said in a statement that it’s holding more than 90 ceremonies this week, including a Maryland ceremony presided over by Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

“They’re all veterans or active-duty members of the military representing all services,” WMAR Baltimore reported. “They come from Cameroon, China, El Salvador, Germany, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal. and South Korea.”

“The willingness to serve in our armed forces before you become U.S. citizens is truly a remarkable example of devotion to country and our highest ideals,” Mayorkas wrote in a tweet on Wednesday. “On the eve of #VeteransDay, we congratulate you for everything that you have done and continue to do for all of us.” Among the new citizens this week was Godson Vondee, originally from Ghana. 

“Becoming a citizen means so much to me because it puts me in a position to give back to the country,” Vondee said in a VA post. “I decided to join the Army to advance in my career and to serve this great country. Also, to be a better example to my daughter to let her know she can be anything as long as she puts her mind to it since I joined at a later age.”

The New American Economy Research Fund said in 2019 that nearly 900,000 immigrants have served or are currently serving in the U.S. military. The organization estimated that more than 190,000 were active members as of 2017. “The United States has a long history of encouraging non-citizens to join its Armed Forces. From the Revolutionary War through the 1840s, half of the U.S. military’s recruits were foreign-born.”

Thousands of current and former military service members were welcomed as new U.S. citizens as the Biden administration has also announced formal plans to return deported veterans and family members to the U.S.

“Together with our partner the Department of Veterans Affairs, we are committed to bringing back military service members, veterans, and their immediate family members who were unjustly removed and ensuring they receive the benefits to which they may be entitled,” Mayorkas said this past summer. “Today we are taking important steps to make that a reality.” Some deported veterans have since been able to briefly cross into the U.S. to access the novel coronavirus vaccine. Others, like Agustín Abarca, have come back for good. Deported nearly a decade ago, he became a U.S. citizen last month.

“Once I was approved for citizenship, I left the office in shock. I screamed and my family hugged me; my friends, my lawyer. It was a historic day in my life,” Abarca told Arizona Republic. 

This week, California U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla introduced legislation to prevent the deportation of noncitizen veterans. Support for and passage of that bill should be a no-brainer. But so was COVID-19 relief, and every single Republican still voted against it. It’s also unknown exactly how many veterans have been deported because Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials haven’t properly tracked it, a nonpartisan government watchdog said in 2019. Abhorrent. Bring them back home—and make them the U.S. citizens they deserve to be.