Thread: Flood of Legal Immigrants Seeks to Become Citizens

July 4, 2007
Flood of Legal Immigrants Seeks to Become Citizens
By JULIA PRESTON
The number of legal immigrants seeking to become United States citizens is surging, officials say, prompted by imminent increases in processing fees for naturalization applications, citizenship drives across the country and new feelings of insecurity in immigrant communities.

The citizenship campaigns have tapped into the recent uneasiness that legal immigrants, especially Hispanics, say is the result of months of caustic national debate over an immigration bill that failed in the Senate last week. While illegal immigrants were the center of attention in the debate, it prompted many legal immigrants who have set down roots in this country to seek the security of citizenship, as well as its voting power, immigrant advocates said.

Numbers of new naturalized citizens have been growing steadily in recent years, to 702,589 in 2006 from 463,204 in 2003. But a big jump came this year, with the number of naturalization applications rising every month, to 115,175 in May compared with 65,782 in December 2006.

More than 4,000 new Americans were sworn in yesterday in tradition-steeped Fourth of July ceremonies around the country, as well as some not so traditional events. About 1,000 people from 75 countries took their oaths together by the spires of Cinderella’s Magic Kingdom castle at Disney World in Orlando, as Gloria Estefan crooned “The Star-Spangled Banner.â€

[quote]“I realized that I want to be able to vote and speak up for my people because they are not getting enough support,â€

[quote]“I will always have Mexican blood,â€