Thread: Applications for citizenship skyrocket

Applications for citizenship skyrocket
Group sees effect on politics in 2 suburban districts

October 25, 2006
BY MAUDLYNE IHEJIRIKA Staff Reporter
Since immigration reform took center stage in February, Illinois has seen a 46 percent increase in the number of immigrants applying for citizenship.
But the growth -- said to have changed the political landscape in two suburban swing districts -- is threatened by new government roadblocks in the citizenship process, immigrant rights advocates charge.

In the seven months from February to August, the latest month for which figures are available, Illinois saw an average of 3,370 applications filed monthly, compared with an average of 2,301 in the seven months preceding, according to figures released Tuesday by the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. When compared to the same February-to-August period in 2005, the number of citizenship applications in the Chicago area jumped 24 percent.

Nationally, citizenship applications spiked nearly 20 percent in the months after last December's passage of a controversial bill by House Republicans to criminalize illegal immigrants -- a trend activists attribute in part to fear.

"In Illinois, it translated into a very sustained and substantial increase, and the impact of that is dramatically reshaping the electorate in Illinois, especially in those suburban areas which are becoming political swing districts," said Josh Hoyt, executive director of the coalition, which runs a program for the state that assists legal immigrants with citizenship.

Hoyt said between 2000 and 2005, retiring Rep. Henry Hyde's 6th Congressional District saw a 51.2 percent increase in naturalized citizens, for example, while Rep. Melissa Bean's 8th Congressional District saw a 57.4 percent increase, making those formerly solid Republican bastions more competitive for Democrats. Both districts have big election battles under way.


Cost could double
But the coalition and others say looming changes by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services -- including a fee increase and a citizenship test redesign -- signal efforts to make the process difficult for even legal immigrants.
The immigration service is set to announce in the next month an increase in the $400 application cost, which advocates say is expected to double. The agency also is moving toward an electronic filing system that critics say is unfeasible due to the digital divide. The immigration service already has complicated the application by increasing it from four pages to 10, critics say.


Changes defended
Generally, legal permanent residents who have lived here five years are eligible to apply for citizenship.
"Sorry if I'm a little cynical. You're telling me you're not trying to make this harder for people?" quipped Rep. Luis Gutierrez in an interview. He's one of 23 congressmen who signed an Oct. 3 letter of complaint to U.S. Immigration Director Emilio Gonzalez.

Immigration service spokeswoman Marilu Cabrera defended the changes, saying the fee increase is necessary to help pay for operations. The application change was aimed at making the process more thorough, she said. Illinois is home to some 500,000 legal permanent residents and an estimated 460,000 illegal immigrants.

mihejirika@suntimes.com


http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/1098 ... 25.article

But the coalition and others say looming changes by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services -- including a fee increase and a citizenship test redesign -- signal efforts to make the process difficult for even legal immigrants.

What does "signal efforts to make the process difficult for even legal immigrants" suppose to mean? Hopefully, legal immigrants are the only ones applying for citizenship. Illegal should not be able to apply for U.S. citizenship while they are illegally in this country!!!

By the way, does Rep. Guiterrez have any other mission in life besides his mission of giving every third world immigrant U.S. citizenship? It troubles me that American citizen taxpayers are paying him to look out for their best interest, but all he seems to do is focus on supporting the one issue that is hurting them the most! While finding a "one trick pony" interesting at the circus, I don't feel it serves the best interest of our country to have them in the U.S. Congress.