LOS ANGELES — On a Wednesday in the downtown LA courtyard of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services building, about a hundred people are gathered, waiting to be sworn in as U.S. citizens; and they’ve all had to overcome many challenges to get there.
“I’m excited, it’s something I’ve been dreaming about for 20 years,” said Long Beach resident Lorena Vasquez, who immigrated to the U.S. at the age of 12.
For her, it was the civics test that was the most difficult.
“I was so nervous, but I did it. I watched this YouTube channel called Studying with Fernando, that helped me,” Vasquez said.
For others, it’s the $725 application fee that is the biggest hurdle. That was the case for María Auxilio López, who works seven days a week as a maid and barely makes ends meet.
“All I do is work and work. I don’t rest. I have to pay for food, for rent, for everything,” said María, who had to borrow the money from a family member.
Obstacles like language skills and money are part of why nine million legal residents in the U.S., who are eligible for citizenship, have not moved forward with the process. But this year, a new campaign called ‘Naturalize 2 Million by 2022’ is trying to help migrants tackle those hurdles with cash, resources and information.
“CHIRLA has funding to actually provide those applicants the $725, there are exemptions for the language (exam), there are medical exemptions that exist for the civics exam,” said Navil Canal, supervising attorney at CHIRLA.
The campaign, spearheaded by the National Partnership for New Americans, the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights in LA and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), is hoping to do more than help migrants become citizens. They also want to make them voters.
“We want those people who are naturalized to actually vote in the elections, to make sure that their voices are heard,” Canal said.
That’s an important but big undertaking, says Dr. Mindy Romero, director of the USC Center for Inclusive Democracy.
“Just because you help somebody become a citizen doesn’t mean they will automatically register to vote, or actually vote. There is still work in between to help them transition,” Dr. Romero said.
Dr. Romero says data shows that naturalized citizens do vote at higher rates than native-born citizens. However, she says, if you think you know who these new citizens are voting for, especially new Latino voters, think again.
“People underestimate the Latino vote all the time. Latinos are not a monolithic group. They’re not all democrats, a large percentage are no party preference or Republican,” Dr. Romero said.
Most of the new citizens we spoke to at the naturalization ceremony told us they were excited to register to vote, but weren’t sure of their party preference just yet.
“I don’t know yet,” Vasquez said. “I’m not sure for who I would vote.”
For now, she says, she’s just happy to live her life as an American citizen.