Legal immigrants are applying for citizenship in record numbers – topping 8,000 over 12 months at the Denver office of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
The Denver office saw a 28 percent increase in applications for naturalization in fiscal 2006, which ended Sept. 30, compared with the previous 12 months. That jump mirrors an all- time high across the country.
In the current political climate, many immigrants say they worry that their opportunity to become citizens could be stripped away or that they could be taxed more heavily. They also say they feel empathy for illegal immigrants, targets of the current political debate that includes a new Colorado law that prohibits them from applying for state services.
“The marches we have been a part of don’t mean anything if we don’t vote,” said Carmen Lopez, 39, a legal resident for seven years and in the U.S. for 21 years. She is applying for citizenship this month. “The government doesn’t pay attention to us, so we need to vote and choose our own representatives.”
Nationwide, as of 2004, there were 8 million legal permanent residents eligible to become citizens by applying for naturalization, with 100,000 in Colorado, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
The Denver office, which serves Colorado and Wyoming, posted a record number of applications for naturalization – 8,121 between Oct. 1, 2005, and Sept. 30, 2006. There were 6,346 applications in the previous 12 months.
August saw the largest spike, with 53 percent more applications than in the same month the year before.
“I’ve never seen numbers this high – it’s a great thing,” said Mario Ortiz, Denver district director U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. “A lot of it has to do with the immigration debate this year, and a lot of it has to do with the partnerships we’ve been making with community-based organizations across the state.”
While immigration rallies in the spring raised voter awareness among Latinos, voter registration for this election has not reflected an increase among Latino voters.
New citizens are eligible to register to vote once they are sworn in as citizens. From start to finish, the naturalization process takes an average of seven months in Denver.
Nationwide, applications jumped 26 percent in June, July and August, with 203,842 applications compared with the same months in 2005, when 161,734 applications were filed.
Immigration officials credit the negative publicity about immigration, as well as voter drives, and citizenship seminars, as reasons for the spike in applications.
“People think it’s better to take that next step and make sure they are OK,” said immigration officer Carol Vernon.
Lopez and hundreds of other legal residents showed up at Centro San Juan Diego in Denver on Friday for a community outreach session on citizenship hosted by the Univision television network with the help of the American Immigration Lawyers Association and the Denver office of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
Vernon, two other officers and several attorneys were there to answer questions.
Immigrants brought green cards, photos, marriage certificates, tax records, money orders and other documents needed to complete the applications, which must be mailed to a processing center.
Immigrants eligible for citizenship have been legal permanent residents for at least five years, have a working knowledge of English and don’t have a criminal record.
Applicants have been in the U.S. a median of eight years, according to the Migration Policy Institute.
Jim Johnson of Univision said nearly 270 people were helped Friday at Centro San Juan Diego and at least another 100 were turned away because of space and time constraints. Citizenship and Immigration Services gave out 400 citizenship applications.
Univision and community groups advertised the event.
Andres Hernandez, 52, of Fort Collins took the day off from his landscaping job to be the first in line at 7 a.m., although the event didn’t start until 3 p.m.
Once he is a citizen, he said, he hopes to bring his schoolteacher wife and three children – ages 20, 18 and 16 – to Colorado.
It’s an unexpected twist in his plan, Hernandez said. The 24-year resident never intended to become a citizen until Colorado boasted about becoming one of the most-restrictive states for illegal immigrants.
“I came here to work, and I go home to be with my family. But with the laws here, it’s become a very unstable situation, and that is why people are here applying for citizenship,” he said. “I want to vote now. We have to find a good president and a good governor.”
Staff writer Elizabeth Aguilera can be reached at 303-820-1372 or eaguilera@denverpost.com.
