Citizenship applicants up by 86% in S. Az
by Sheryl Kornman on Oct. 02, 2007, under Local, Nation/WorldComing elections, fee boost seen as reasons
Olga Hernandez and her children, Dylan Salazar, 5, and Jatzity Salazar, 3, watch a ceremony in August where Hernandez became a U.S. citizen along with about 50 others at the Evo A. DeConcini U.S. Courthouse.
The number of legal immigrants in southern Arizona applying for U.S. citizenship has almost doubled over last year.
More than 4,000 immigrants in Pima, Pinal, Cochise, Santa Cruz and Graham counties applied for U.S. citizenship in the past 11 months, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services data.
That’s an increase of at least 86 percent over federal fiscal 2005-06, when 2,300 immigrants applied. The previous federal fiscal year began Oct. 1, 2006, and ended Sept. 30. Figures for September were not available.
Tucsonan Olga Hernandez, 47, said she applied to become a citizen this summer because she wants to vote in upcoming U.S. elections and she knew the application fee would rise July 30.
A 69 percent increase in the citizenship application fee took effect July 30, spurring more than 2,000 citizenship applications combined in May, June and July. There were about 650 applications last year for the same three months. The application fee rose to $675 from $400.
Born in the coastal town of Empalme, Son., Hernandez has lived in Tucson since 1981.
She’s the only member of her family to become a naturalized American citizen. Her husband, Michael Angel Lespron, 44, is getting his residency papers, she said. He works for a company that delivers gasoline.
Hernandez said she traveled to Sonora for a funeral just two weeks after her naturalization ceremony in Tucson on Aug. 24.
Crossing the border into Arizona, she said she was thrilled to be able to tell U.S. immigration officers in Nogales for the first time that she is an American citizen.
For years, Hernandez said, she has received mailers from candidates trying to win her vote. She wanted to vote but didn’t apply for naturalization because she feared taking the citizenship test in English. This summer she decided to apply.
“I studied for the test with a CD I put in the car,” she said Monday.
“Everyone at the immigration office was very friendly. Even the security guard. They told me I passed the test as soon as I finished answering the questions. The security guard wanted to know if I passed,” she said, and congratulated her on her achievement.
“I was very happy. I was crying. I couldn’t believe it,” she said.
For her, the process was swift. She got fingerprinted, passed the required criminal background check and got a date two months later for her test.
Her experience with the test was normal; more than 90 percent of all applications are approved, immigration officials said. So were her reasons for wanting to become a citizen.
The fee and the upcoming presidential election, which historically coincides with more naturalization requests, are two of the biggest reasons for the uptick in applications. Only U.S. citizens can vote. A new citizenship test that will be given beginning October 2008 also is driving an increase in applications, officials said.
It isn’t known how many new citizens here are registered voters. They can register to vote as soon as they complete a naturalization ceremony.
Political prognosticators are trying to determine how these new citizens and Hispanics in general will affect next year’s state and federal elections.
Hispanics are the nation’s fastest-growing minority group and make up 14.5 percent of the U.S. population.
But their strength at the ballot box has not kept pace with their population growth, partly because citizenship rates for eligible Hispanic immigrants tend to be far lower than those of immigrants from other countries. Historically, Hispanics have lower voter registration and turnout.
In Arizona, only 16 percent of adult Hispanic immigrants have been naturalized, according to the Pew Hispanic Center, a nonpartisan research organization in Washington, D.C.
About 30 percent of Tucson’s population is Hispanic, according to U.S. census data.
Pima County Recorder F. Anne Rodriguez said there are 457,579 registered voters in Pima County and there is no way to tell how many are Hispanics.
Maricopa County’s population also is about 30 percent Hispanic. Voter rolls there show people with Hispanic surnames make up about 12 percent of registered voters and accounted for 8 percent of votes cast in the 2006 general election, according to that county’s Elections Office.
Hispanic voting and voter registration have been an undercurrent of the bitter immigration debate over the past year.
Pro-immigrant marches here and in cities around the country in spring 2006 pressed Congress to pass immigration reform.
Failed legislation included a path to citizenship for the nation’s estimated 11 million to 12 million illegal immigrants, 500,000 of whom are estimated to live in Arizona. Those new citizens all would be eligible to vote.
Hispanics tend to vote Democratic, but in 2004, 40 percent of Hispanics voted for President Bush, the highest tally a Republican candidate has ever received from Hispanics.
Sharon Rummery, a CIS spokeswoman, said naturalizations tend to rise leading up to presidential election years, especially in a year such as 2008, when term limits guarantee there will be a new president.
For example, the number of immigrants naturalized rose 82 percent from 1998 to 1999, the year before the 2000 presidential election.
In addition to the right to vote, U.S. citizens get priority to petition to bring family members permanently to the U.S. and eligibility to travel with a U.S. passport, to run for elected office and apply for federal government jobs.
In general, U.S. citizens cannot be deported.
Arizona Republic reporter Daniel Gonzalez contributed to this article.
A U.S. citizenship ceremony in Tucson
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CITIZENSHIP ELIGIBILITY
Who is eligible to become a naturalized U.S. citizen?
Immigrants who have been legal permanent residents for at least five years or have been married to a U.S. citizen for at least three years are eligible to apply for citizenship.
Members of the U.S. military who have served for at least one year also are eligible.
Illegal immigrants and those in the country on nonimmigrant temporary visas are not eligible to apply for citizenship.
Sources: Arizona Republic research, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
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ON THE WEB
Learn more about becoming a citizen at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Web site, www.uscis.gov.
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New Americans Project
The federal government is launching a new program aimed at helping immigrants integrate into American society.
The New Americans Project encourages immigrants to volunteer in their communities to learn more about their adopted country.
It also encourages native-born Americans to volunteer with organizations that help immigrants and refugees learn English or study to become citizens.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Web site: www.WelcometoUSA.gov
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SPIKE IN CITIZENSHIP APPLICATIONS IN TUCSON
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206 May 2006
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621 May 2007
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209 June 2006
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1,130 June 2007
