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CLEARING THE OBSTACLES TO CITIZENSHIP  
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Miriam Jordan
August 12, 2024
New York Times
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_ Immigrants are becoming U.S. citizens at the fastest clip in years.
New citizens say they are looking forward to voting in November. _

New American citizens take the Oath of Allegiance, screen grab

 

The federal government is processing citizenship requests at the
fastest clip in a decade, moving rapidly through a backlog that built
up during the Trump administration and the coronavirus pandemic.

At ceremonies in courthouses, convention centers and sports arenas
across the country, thousands of immigrants are becoming new Americans
every week — and becoming eligible to vote in time for the
presidential election this fall.

It’s unclear how many of the new voters live in battleground states,
but a number of the states where Kamala Harris or Donald Trump must
win have large and growing numbers of voting-age naturalized citizens,
including Georgia, Arizona, Nevada and Pennsylvania.

In Savannah, Ga., people from 19 countries streamed into a federal
courthouse recently to take the oath of allegiance.

“My case was done in less than six months,” said Gladis Brown, who
is married to an American and emigrated from Honduras in 2018.

Generally, lawful permanent residents, known as green-card holders,
are eligible to become naturalized citizens if they have had that
status for at least five years, or have been married to a U.S. citizen
for at least three years.

Green-card holders have many of the same rights as citizens. But
voting in federal elections is a right accorded only to citizens. And
that can be a powerful motivation to pursue citizenship, especially
when big national elections are on the horizon.

“I’m so glad that the process moved quickly,” said Ms. Brown,
who was one of the 31 immigrants being sworn in. “People like me
want to vote in the election.”

After the ceremony, Ms. Brown celebrated with cake and punch from a
local women’s volunteer group — and by completing a
voter-registration form provided by a representative of the League of
Women Voters.

Naturalization applications typically spike upward in the approach to
an election.

“The surge in naturalization efficiency isn’t just about clearing
backlogs; it’s potentially reshaping the electorate, merely months
before a pivotal election,” said Xiao Wang, chief executive of
Boundless, a company that uses government data to analyze immigration
trends and that offers services to immigrants who seek professional
help in navigating the application process.

“Every citizenship application could be a vote that decides Senate
seats or even the presidency,” Mr. Wang said.

At under five months, application processing speed is now on a par
with 2013 and 2014
[[link removed].]. About 3.3
million immigrants have become citizens during President Biden’s
time in office, with less than two months to go before the close of
the 2024 fiscal year.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services took 4.9 months, on
average, to process naturalization applications in the first nine
months of the current fiscal year, compared with 11.5 months in fiscal
2021.

After taking office in 2021, Mr. Biden issued an executive order
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sought to dial back his predecessor’s hard-line immigration agenda
and “restore faith” in the legal immigration system. Among other
steps, the order called for action to “substantially reduce current
naturalization processing times” with the goal of strengthening
integration of new Americans.

Unlike many federal agencies, the citizenship agency is funded mainly
by fees paid by applicants, rather than by congressional
appropriations, giving the administration latitude to define its
priorities and the allocation of resources.

The Biden administration began deploying new technology and additional
staff in 2022 to reduce the pending caseload of citizenship
applications, which had ballooned because of heightened scrutiny by
the Trump administration and protracted pandemic-related delays in
conducting the swearing-in ceremonies.

The Biden administration also shortened the naturalization application
to 14 pages from 20. It raised the application fee in April to $710
from $640, but made it easier for low-income people to qualify for a
discount.

While there has long been partisan disagreement over how to tackle
illegal immigration and overhaul the nation’s immigration laws,
naturalizing lawful residents had broad bipartisan support. As
president, George W. Bush signed an executive order in 2002 expediting
naturalization for noncitizens serving in the military. Since he left
office, he has hosted oath ceremonies at his institute in Dallas.

But citizenship has become more politicized in recent years.

Intent on curbing legal immigration, the Trump administration
conducted lengthier reviews of naturalization applications. The
processing time roughly doubled to about 10 months during Mr.
Trump’s tenure.

The bottleneck prevented some 300,000 prospective citizens from
naturalizing in time to vote in the 2020 election, according
to estimates by Boundless
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It is a crime for noncitizens, including legal permanent residents, to
attempt to vote in federal elections. Some Republicans, including
former President Trump and Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of
Georgia, have spread unfounded narratives
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undocumented immigrants being encouraged to vote by Democrats.

Some nine million green-card holders
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currently eligible to become U.S. citizens, according to the latest
official data. Naturalized Latinos, who make up the largest share of
the new citizens, have historically leaned Democratic, as have
naturalized Asians and Africans, according to Louis DeSipio, a
political scientist at the University of California, Irvine, who
studies voter behavior.

Citizenship confers benefits and legal protections. Citizens cannot be
deported; green-card holders convicted of crimes can be sent back to
their country of origin.

The four states with the largest number of immigrants who qualify for
citizenship are California, New York, Texas, and Florida. Mexico,
India, the Philippines, the Dominican Republic and Cuba
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the top countries of origin.

While immigrants cite the right to vote as an important factor in
their decision to naturalize, the reality is that many do not
register, or do not cast ballots. Overall, naturalized citizens have a
lower registration rate than native-born Americans.

“There has to be investment to turn them out, from the parties,
churches, unions,” Dr. DeSipio said. “If you make an effort to
turn them out, then they turn out.”

The NALEO Educational Fund, a nonpartisan organization that promotes
Latino civic engagement, operates a hotline that it publicizes on
Spanish-language media. The hotline helps people register and answers
questions about mail-in ballots, polling stations and other election
matters.

“People want to participate in our democracy, but they hit a wall
when they don’t have the information they need,” said Juan Rosa,
director of civic engagement at the fund.

A recent survey suggested that there was enthusiasm for voting in
November.

Among naturalized citizens, 81.4 percent said they “definitely”
would cast a ballot in the 2024 election, and another 14.5 percent
said they “probably” would vote, according to the survey
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which was conducted by the U.S. Immigration Policy Center at the
University of California, San Diego, with the National Partnership for
New Americans.

“The American electorate is as diverse as it has ever been, and much
of that has been fueled by newly naturalized citizen voters, who are
making up an increasingly large share of the electorate,” said Tom
Wong, a political scientist at the university who led the study.

The oath of allegiance is the last step to obtaining U.S. citizenship,
after passing a background check, health exam, interview and civics
test.

In the Savannah federal courthouse, R. Stan Baker, the chief judge,
shook hands and posed for a photo with each person who was sworn in.
“You have the full rights of an American,” he said. “Don’t let
anyone tell you otherwise.”

As the new Americans emerged from the courtroom, Chassidy Malloy of
the League of Women Voters of Coastal Georgia approached several of
them, offering voter registration forms.

Some left clutching the form, along with their citizenship certificate
and a small American flag.

Others chose to register on the spot, including three members of the
Patel family.

“This is a wonderful country that we want to be fully a part of,”
said Nishang Patel, 28, a dentist born in Kenya who arrived in the
United States as a child. “We will contribute and vote,” he said.

_Miriam Jordan [[link removed]] reports
from a grass roots perspective on immigrants and their impact on the
demographics, society and economy of the United States. More about
Miriam Jordan [[link removed]]_

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