Thread: Naturalized Citizens to Reshape Calif.'s Political Landscape

Naturalized citizens are poised to reshape California's political landscape
Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times

Efren Curiel, 45, is sworn in as a naturalized U.S. citizen in March at the Quiet Cannon Country Club in Montebello. California’s 300,000 naturalized citizens accounted for nearly one-third of the nation’s total.

The increase in naturalized Asian and Latino citizens -- 300,000 people took the oath of allegiance in 2008 -- could alter the state's policy priorities for years to come, analysts say.

By Teresa Watanabe
May 11, 2009

More than 1 million immigrants became U.S. citizens last year, the largest surge in history, hastening the ethnic transformation of California's political landscape with more Latinos and Asians now eligible to vote.

Leading the wave, California's 300,000 new citizens accounted for nearly one-third of the nation's total and represented a near-doubling over 2006, according to a recent report by the U.S. Office of Immigration Statistics. Florida recorded the second-largest group of new citizens, and Texas claimed the fastest growth.

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Mexicans, who have traditionally registered low rates of naturalization, represented the largest group, with nearly one-fourth of the total. They were followed by Indians, Filipinos, Chinese, Cubans and Vietnamese.

The new citizens are reshaping California's electorate and are likely to reorder the state's policy priorities, some political analysts predict. Several polls show that Latinos and Asians are more supportive than whites of public investments and broad services, even if they require higher taxes.

Most Latinos, for instance, support all five budget propositions on the May ballot while most whites oppose them, according to recent polls by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California. Although viewed as largely conservative, most Asian Americans supported a 2004 measure requiring large businesses to provide health insurance to employees, even as it failed at the ballot box, according to an analysis by the Asian Pacific American Legal Center in Los Angeles.

Nationally, nonwhite voters overwhelmingly supported Barack Obama's presidential candidacy, while most whites voted for Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), a recent study by the Pew Research Center showed. And there were more nonwhite voters last year -- Latino registered voters increased by 3 million compared with 2004, said Antonio Gonzalez, president of the Southwest Voting Registration Education Project in Los Angeles.

The surge in new citizens will accelerate by several years the California electorate's shift from majority white to nonwhite, according to Dowell Myers, a USC demographer. Although that shift won't be completed until 2026, Myers and others said, Latinos, Asians and African Americans are already joining with progressive whites to elect ethnically diverse candidates.

"As we have more Asian American and Latino voters, our electorate will begin to look more like the face of the public at large," said Mark Baldassare of the Public Policy Institute. "From the standpoint of representative democracy, few things could be more important than this."

The path to the 1-million mark was paved by an organized collaboration among community activists, the Spanish-language media and government. Univision TV network and La Opinion newspaper, in particular, had many stories about the importance of citizenship and demystified the application process, said Arturo Vargas, executive director of the National Assn. of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials Educational Fund in Los Angeles.

"You could not go throughout Los Angeles and not be bombarded with the message that it's time to become a citizen," said Vargas, whose organization helped spearhead the national campaign called Ya Es Hora ("It's Time").

U.S. immigration officials worked weekends to distribute information, develop TV scripts and provide an official to conduct an on-air mock citizenship interview, Vargas said. Jane Arellano, district director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services' seven-county area covering Southern California, was the movement's "unsung hero," he said.

Arellano said she first met with activists in 2006 about their citizenship campaign plans. As she watched citizenship applications shoot up in January 2008, Arellano immediately appealed to her agency's headquarters for extra help.

In all, she managed to add more than 100 extra staff, won authorization for weekend overtime work and worked with the courts to add and expand citizenship ceremonies. The high point came in September, when 34,000 new citizens took the oath of allegiance -- more than a fourfold increase over the previous year, Arellano said.

Meanwhile, the region's adult and community colleges joined the effort, expanding English and civics classes to help prepare immigrants for their citizenship test. The Los Angeles Unified School District's adult education division nearly doubled the number of citizenship classes last year over the previous year, officials said.

One of those new Latino voters was Joanuen Llamas, a 26-year-old Mexico native and Los Angeles homemaker who legally immigrated here in 1998. She was inspired to become a citizen in March 2008 after joining the massive immigrant rights marches of recent years and took to heart their slogan, "Today we march, tomorrow we vote."

"It made me think that that's the way to change anything in this country," said Llamas, who cast her first vote, for Obama, in November.

Those demographic and political trends will continue to marginalize Republicans unless the party makes major changes in its tone and policies toward immigrants, said Allan Hoffenblum, a Republican political consultant in Los Angeles.

"The reason the Republican Party is in such dire straits is its inability to successfully reach out and change its image among Latinos and Asians," he said. "The image is too shrill on immigration. It's an image of an intolerant cult."

But Gonzalez said Latinos and other immigrants still had far to go, noting that 8 million of them have not yet claimed citizenship although they are eligible. "The test is going forward," he said.

Indeed, new citizenship applications have already dropped significantly. In the Southern California district, for instance, applications plunged to 58,433 last year from 253,666 the previous year, U.S. immigration statistics show.

Most experts say that a 69% increase in application fees to $675 was one reason for the steep decline. The Obama administration is proposing $206 million in funding for immigration services that could help reduce the fee by about $50, and activists are hoping for more, said Rosalind Gold of the National Assn. of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials Educational Fund. New citizen Alfonso Vergara is one product of the massive citizenship campaign effort. A Mexico native and pharmaceutical technician, the 31-year-old said he had postponed applying for citizenship for years because the process seemed too time-consuming.

But last year, he said, he was swept up in the marches and the call for civic activism.

"It was time for me to build a stronger future for my family and become a more active person in this country," he said.

Ultimately, Vargas said, the citizenship wave will help Latinos and other new U.S. citizens contribute even more to the country.

"This isn't about helping Latinos for the sake of helping Latinos," Vargas said. "This is about helping Latinos succeed for the sake of America."

teresa.watanabe@

latimes.com

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me ... ?track=rss

Not every immigrant including former illegal aliens is in favor of unlimited illegal immigration.

This isn't about helping Latinos for the sake of helping Latinos," Vargas said.

That is the biggest damn lie I every heard!
As Latinos take over California everywhere, it's all about them and only their causes. They could care less about Whites or Asians or Blacks except what they can get from them or if they need their numbers or money. Just wait until these three wake up, it'll be too late. Latinos could care less about American culture and history and legal framework. Their hundreds of organizations have swept the fairness and equality out of everything. Where the hell is any white support organization anywhere? There is none.

The "face of the public at large" in California is so full of foreigners now that you think you are no longer in our country. I can't wait to get out of here someday.

It is pretty damn sad when they are so proud of usurping the American born citizen out of losing control over their own Political system, It is time to stop all of this immigration.

Why should they be allowed to let so many people in that we lose control of our own country ?

This has to stop and i am sick of hearing them bragging about getting control of our elections among everything else!

Guess I went a little overboard in my previous post.
But it has really changed here in CA folks. It's only a matter of time before it is completely balkanized.

add: ....but you're right Sosad. Immigration in this country should go back to the Quota System. Absolutely!

Originally Posted by ShockedinCalifornia

Guess I went a little overboard in my previous post.
But it has really changed here in CA folks. It's only a matter of time before it is completely balkanized.

I wouldn't call it overboard, I'd call it discusted and you have every right to be!!

I was born in Calif, but moved in 1980 because I could see what was comming, how sad huh when the only way to escape living in a hell hole is by moving out of your home!

The federal government gives them citizenship and the first thing they do is try to take over a state.

The federal government should spread them out evenly to all states so that they can't take over any one state.

Originally Posted by ShockedinCalifornia

Guess I went a little overboard in my previous post.
But it has really changed here in CA folks. It's only a matter of time before it is completely balkanized.

We are already pretty well balkanized here, in Southern and Central California 1/3rd of the radio stations are Spanish, and about 25% of the business signs and billboards are Spanish only.

Racial lines tested in Calif. House race

Saturday, May 9 | 12:06 p.m.
By MICHAEL R. BLOOD AP Political Writer

Racial lines are being tested in a Southern California congressional race in which an Asian candidate is a leading contender in a district that has been a Hispanic stronghold for years.

The contest to fill the vacant seat in a heavily Democratic stretch of Los Angeles and its eastern suburbs is a snapshot of the state's fluid racial landscape.

An area where Hispanics supplanted a largely white and Japanese population has in recent years seen a surge in Asian newcomers, including Filipinos, Vietnamese and Chinese.

"It's a community in transition," says Gil Cedillo, a Hispanic state senator vying for the open slot.

The neighborhoods of the 32nd Congressional District were once thick with Italian delis and Armenian restaurants. Today, Cedillo said, "one block looks like Saigon, another one will look like Taipei and then the third one will look like ... Mexico."

He calls the region a "window to the future of America."

Former state Assembly member Judy Chu knows she can't win the May 19 special election without drawing support from Hispanics, who make up about half the registered voters and two-thirds of the population.

The seat - held by Rep. Hilda Solis until she resigned to become President Barack Obama's labor secretary - has been in Hispanic hands since the early 1980s.

"I think I have a great chance to win," said Chu, a member of the California Board of Equalization, which oversees the state's various tax programs and hears tax appeals.

She notes that she has captured a string of local elections in areas within the district over 23 years.

"I am a coalition builder," she said.

There are 12 candidates on the ballot - eight Democrats, three Republicans and a Libertarian. It's unlikely any candidate will get the required majority to win outright on election night. If no candidate clears that mark, the top finishers in each party will advance to a July 14 runoff.

But the runoff would be a formality. The Democrat will be the all-but-certain winner in a district where the party holds a more than 2-to-1 registration edge over Republicans. Solis won nearly every vote when she was re-elected in November 2008 - Republicans didn't have a candidate on the ballot.

The two leading candidates, Chu and Cedillo, each share a liberal Democratic pedigree and similar voting records. Both agree the economy and jobs are top issues.

Endorsements have cut across racial and ethnic lines, and assumptions about racial bloc voting and identity politics are being challenged in the era of President Barack Obama, the first black in the Oval Office.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, one of the nation's most recognized Hispanic politicians, endorsed Chu and is raising money for her campaign. Villaraigosa and Cedillo have not been close since their days in the California Legislature.

Solis is staying out of the race, but Chu has endorsements from Solis' husband, mother, father and sisters. She also has the backing of the powerful Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, headed by Maria Elena Durazo.

Cedillo has picked off Asian support, including endorsements from a state senator and an Assembly member.

In fliers landing in voter mailboxes, Cedillo accuses Chu of favoring big business in her position on the state tax board while Chu has been critical of Cedillo's use of campaign funds for lavish shopping excursions and gourmet meals.

Both candidates stress an ability to work - and by implication draw votes - across racial and ethnic lines.

Chu's Web site features pictures of her with Villaraigosa and Solis family members. Cedillo clearly wants a strong turnout from Hispanics, but one mailer talks about his work with Filipino-American veterans.

White voters are a sliver of the electorate but could provide a decisive margin in what's expected to be a low-turnout election.

With an unusual May contest, the biggest challenge could be rounding up voters across the often-smoggy, working-class area divided by congested freeways.

When asked about the campaign, empty stares came from most people in a random sampling of voters at strip malls in two small cities in the district.

Jose Rodriguez of El Monte, 38, a sales manager at an auto parts store, kept shaking his head when asked if he knew about the election or recognized the names of the leading candidates, Chu and Cedillo.

"You kind of lose track," he said.

Political scientist Raphael Sonenshein gives Chu a slight edge, given her close political ties to the district, which includes the area she represented in the Assembly. Cedillo's senate district does not overlap the area. He only recently moved into the district, although he has family ties there dating to the 1970s.

"To beat her, you really have to pretty much convince Latino voters to vote as Latinos," says Sonenshein, who teaches at California State University, Fullerton. "His advantage is the growing Latino consciousness in the state."

The district's population is about 64 percent Hispanic, 20 percent Asian, 12 percent white and 2 percent black.

Chu and Cedillo have strong ties to immigrant communities. Chu became involved in politics fighting an English-only proposal for signs in her hometown, while Cedillo's signature bill would allow illegal immigrants to apply for driver's licenses, an idea he has pushed unsuccessfully for years.

Cedillo has the support of the political arm of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, which is eager to keep the seat in Hispanic hands.

For Hispanics, "a lot of our needs have not been met," said Rep. Joe Baca, a Democrat and caucus member who represents a neighboring district. "It's a Hispanic seat. We should not lose that seat."

http://www.columbian.com/article/20090509/APP/905090731


Quote:

"'It's a community in transition,' says Gil Cedillo, a Hispanic state senator vying for the open slot.

"The neighborhoods of the 32nd Congressional District were once thick with Italian delis and Armenian restaurants. Today, Cedillo said, 'one block looks like Saigon, another one will look like Taipei and then the third one will look like ... Mexico.'

"He calls the region a 'window to the future of America.'"

Here's a joke for you, I was born in El Monte grew up there and graduated from high school....

The town now looks like it is from another country, I can not even stand to go back there to look, it is a dump, what a difference from what I grew up in....that is change they can keep!!