Dallas, TX
‘Now this is my country, too’: Dallas gains over 200 new U.S. citizens in ceremony
With tears in their eyes, 201 new U.S. citizens sang “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the student center building at UNT Dallas this month.
Person after person from one of more than 50 countries stood while the crowd clapped and cheered. More than 200 men and women took an oath of allegiance during a citizenship ceremony on Thursday afternoon at the student center building at UNT Dallas.
For some, the journey to U.S. citizenship has taken decades. Others started the process only months ago.
But the naturalization ceremony did more than transform their legal status, according to attendees. It ushered in a profound sense of security and belonging for them and their families.
“It was long for me since I became a permanent resident in 2017,″ said Marcel Stady, from Canada. “Just even having the ability to vote now and just feel more welcome now.”
Representatives from the consulates of Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Canada, and Peru, along with various community leaders were in attendance to witness and support the naturalization ceremony.
“This is the biggest ceremony of naturalization that we have held in the university,” said Mara Queiroz Vaughn, a Spanish lecturer at UNT Dallas, who was appointed as one of eight citizenship ambassadors nationwide in 2022.
For some, the journey to U.S. citizenship was fraught with challenges.
Maria Idalia Martinez, from Guanajuato, Mexico, decided to gain her citizenship after spending 20 years as a permanent resident. She said she felt nervous at first but learned to prepare herself for the road ahead.
“I did it for my children and my grandchildren,” she said. “They have their roots here and they are not going back to Mexico. This is their country, and now this is my country, too.”
For Angelica Gonzales, from Mexico, the path to becoming a citizen was hard, battling stereotypes that people like her aren’t educated.
“Racism still exists to this day,” she said. “I think it is a privilege and honor to my family to have me as a citizen now because my parents are really humble.”
In 2017, Queiroz Vaughn and other community members created “Spanish in the Community,” a non-credit class at UNT Dallas, which helps people prepare for the citizenship process.
“We are launching for the first time that the program will become hybrid for those who can’t attend in person because of a job,” Vaughn said. “People can start with the non-credit class as soon as they are eligible for citizenship.”
Organizations such as The National Educational Service Centers, and Proyecto Inmigrante, among others, collaborate with Vaughn to make the classes free for residents.
UNT Dallas offers classes as part of the program to obtain a GED and learn English for professionals.
“For these classes, all that is needed is an identification card and a phone number,” said Vaughn.
It’s been a month of extremes for Poorvesh Thakkar.
The India-born, Dallas-based developer was slapped with a lawsuit trying to eject him from a Midtown Manhattan office building he bought in 2024.
The legal challenge comes amid unseasonably sunny days for Thakkar, who recently reached a milestone in his Mustang Square development. That’s notable, because, despite launching his real estate development company in 2016, his development chops are still largely untested, as his pitched projects have mostly been delayed or aborted.
Thakkar recently sold a 3.5-acre slice of the mixed-use project in Plano to an entity tied to Carrollton-based Madewell Spaces. The buyer said its plans to build 13 “standalone luxury office condominiums. D.R. Horton bought a swath of homesites at the project.
Thakkar claims the project is “almost fully sold out and developed.”
It’ll be interesting to see what happens with the project, because Thakkar’s legal trouble in New York seems more indicative of his success as a developer than this Plano project.
The saga of the Midtown Manhattan office tower starts with an almost incomprehensible bet on the part of Thakkar:The largely untested developer struggling to get projects off the ground in his hometown of Dallas bought an office building in New York City with plans to turn it into a residential property, a tricky maneuver even for a seasoned developer.
The only thing that can explain the move is the price tag. Thakkar bought the 23-story building at 135 West 50th Street on auction site Ten-X for $8.5 million, a 97 percent discount to its 2006 sale price.
Safehold, which owns the land beneath the building, claims Thakkar’s firm failed to pay $9 million in property taxes that were due Jan. 1, 2025, and has since racked up almost $28 million in unpaid taxes, interest and other penalties.
After Thakkar failed to meet repeated extension deadlines and forbearance agreements, Safehold notified the firm that it was terminating the ground lease and demanded it surrender the building, according to the lawsuit. Thakkar refused to vacate the property, and the land owner is now seeking their immediate ejection, according to the complaint. He dug his heels in further with a countersuit in which he claims the ground landlord iced him out of his planned conversion project.
Thakkar could win his case in New York and completely sell out Mustang Square and he’ll still face question marks as a developer, thanks to the litany of lawsuits he’s faced, with allegations ranging from loan defaults to EB-5 fraud. The legal trouble appears to have peaked with real estate offering fraud charges filed by the SEC in February.
Austin’s Ayn Rand Museum
In case you missed Elon Musk’s recent embrace of Austin, the summer isn’t the only thing that’s hot in Austin. So is libertarianism. As war-tech startups set up camp in nearby Proto-Town, libertarian icon Ayn Rand is getting a museum built in her honor. The foundation dedicated to preserving the manuscripts of the Russia-born philosopher famous for her “Objectivism” theory is building a $30 million monument to Rand in the form of a library, exhibition room, office and “higher education classroom spaces.”
Fifth Third ditches Downtown Dallas
Dallas’ beleaguered downtown is still smarting from the news that anchor tenant AT&T is moving to Plano. To add insult to injury, Fifth Third Bank is ditching downtown, too, after its merger with Comerica Bank. Fifth Third is leaving a 200,000-square-foot vacancy in Comerica Tower. While the Ohio-based bank won’t settle into the still-under-construction site at 8300 Douglas Avenue until late 2028, it will leave its 200,000-square-foot lease at the 60-story Comerica Bank Tower at 1717 Main Street before the end of the summer.
Meet Poorvesh Thakkar, the Dallas owner Safehold is trying to eject from a Manhattan tower
It’s official: Fifth Third Bank will exit Downtown Dallas Comerica Tower after Comerica merger
Austin in line for $30M of libertarian development devoted to Ayn Rand
Read more
FC Dallas wraps up the first portion of the regular season tonight when they take on the Colorado Rapids.
Lineups are in from both sides. Let’s dive into what Eric Quill’s starting group looks like, who is on the bench, and who we believe will see minutes later on in this one.
What Changed From Last Match
With no Petar Musa (and Deedson), who is away preparing for next month’s World Cup, we get to see Logan Farrington return to the lineup. He’ll have Santiago Moreno and Joaquin Valiente with him in the attack.
Ran Binyamin also returns to the lineup after being on the bench last weekend in San Jose.
The defense sees the biggest shift, with Osaze Urhoghide out with an injury this weekend (more of a precaution than anything else I’m told). The defense will be lead by veterans Shaq Moore, Sebastien Ibeagha and Herman Johansson.
FC Dallas Lineup Notes:
Formation: 3-4-3
FC Dallas vs Colorado Rapids
Starting XI
Bench
Big D Soccer has covered FC Dallas since 2009. If this is your first time here — stick around. Free to sign up, and members get the full tactical breakdown after every match.
Subscribe Today ->
Who should come off the bench?
Given the way Quill has rotated players in and out lately, it is fair to say we’ll see Cappis and Sarver off the bench. Outside of those two, we could get either Louis or Simmonds if there is another attacking need late in the match. But if he needs to go defense, don’t sleep on either Nolan Norris or Lalas Abubakar get some minutes here.
Key Question Heading Into Kickoff
Can FC Dallas wrap up this portion of the schedule on a positive note?
Dallas has been very good in their last two road games, winning in places that they hadn’t won at in over a decade or two. Colorado is no different, as they’ve struggled to pick up results here over the years. With nearly two months off coming up after this one, getting this portion of the season under their belts with a positive result is a must. Dallas needs to come out with energy early, and work those transition moments late in the match when the Rapids have tired legs to finish this one out.
Suspended: none
International duty: Petar Musa, Deedson
Season-ending injury list: Kaka Scabin (knee)
Out: Anderson Julio (Lower leg), Bernard Kamungo (lower leg)
Questionable: none
On Loan: Tsiki Ntsabeleng (Mamelodi Sundowns FC), Enes Sali (Al-Riyadh), Malachi Molina (Nashville SC), Geovane Jesus (North Texas SC), Enzo Newman (North Texas SC)
Unavailable (off-roster): Daniel Baran, Jaidyn Contreras
Colorado Lineup:
Formation: 4-3-3
Starting XI
How to watch
📅 Date: Saturday, May 23, 2026
⚽️ Kickoff: 8:30 PM
🏟 Venue: Dicks Sporting Goods Park
📺 Streaming: MLS Season Pass
💬 Gameday Social: #FCDvCOL
☀️ Weather: 67, sunny
Waymo has suspended driverless car services in Dallas and other major Texas cities, and in Atlanta, after one of its vehicles was stranded by flooding during heavy rains that will likely also hinder travel in a large swath of the U.S over the holiday weekend.
Severe thunderstorms with large hail and gusty winds were possible Friday, May 22 in Texas and other parts of the Southern and Central Plains, the National Weather Service said.
Forecasters warned of possible flash flooding along the Gulf Coast of Texas and Louisiana on Saturday, when rain and thunderstorms were expected across much of the central and eastern U.S.
The Waymo vehicle got stuck during a downpour in Atlanta on Wednesday that flooded streets and even part of a downtown highway. The vehicle was not occupied and was later recovered, the company said in a statement. At least one other Waymo vehicle was waylaid during the storm.
Waymo serves only the city of Atlanta in Georgia, and services Dallas, Houston, Austin, and San Antonio in Texas.
The company paused service in Texas “out of an abundance of caution for the forecasted severe weather,” the statement said.
-
North Dakota3 minutes agoGray areas surround the death of a juvenile in a Saturday Dickinson scooter crash
-
Ohio9 minutes ago122 arrested in Ohio human trafficking sting, including men seeking sex with minors
-
Oklahoma15 minutes agoMississippi State ends Oklahoma’s 9-year WCWS streak | Full highlights
-
Oregon21 minutes agoLIST: Memorial Day debuts new fighter jets for flyovers in the Portland area
-
Pennsylvania27 minutes agoMan found dead in pond in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, coroner says
-
Rhode Island33 minutes agoMunicipalities move, cancel Memorial Day events due to weather concerns
-
South-Carolina39 minutes agoSpecial Olympics South Carolina celebrates USA Games team
-
South Dakota45 minutes ago‘Nine Little Indians’ tells story from South Dakota’s ‘painful’ Native boarding schools
