EDITOR’S NOTE: Hostile signals from the GOP-controlled Congress are spurring immigrants to become voting U.S. citizens, and a national campaign is being launched to help them.
With one week’s notice, nearly 100 eligible immigrants gathered in a school administration building in Phoenix, Ariz., on a Sunday to begin the process of becoming U.S. citizens. Organized by the Arizona Coalition for Migrant Rights and the Center for Community Change, this was just the first of a series of "naturalization fairs" scheduled across Arizona in coming months.
Volunteers helped immigrants with the N-400 application for naturalization, while applicants attentively listened to orientations to the citizenship process and learned about their rights and the American political process.
The event was just one of hundreds taking place across the country this summer to encourage immigrants to become American citizens and voters. Many of these events are organized under the banner of Democracy Summer, a coordinated campaign by the We Are America Alliance. This coalition includes a wide range of national labor unions, immigrant-led organizations like the National Korean American Social and Education Consortium and the National Day Laborers Organizing Network, and local immigrant coalitions in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and other cities.
Democracy Summer officially begins on July 1 in as many as 50 cities, aimed at the millions who marched in solidarity for immigrants rights. The drive could not begin soon enough for many immigrants seeking the opportunity to become citizens, as evidenced by the event in Phoenix.
Oscar began his naturalization in 2001, but he was notified last year that the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service, the federal agency responsible for implementing the process, had lost his application. Oscar was told he would have to start over again, despite already having been a legal permanent resident for more than 15 years. Uncertain about what to do next, he left messages with USCIS and waited. When he heard about the naturalization fair in Phoenix on local radio stations, it seemed like the best opportunity to find help.
Hernan, a legal permanent resident for almost 10 years, came to the naturalization fair fearful that the current political environment in Arizona could threaten his economic and personal security and that of his new bride. Considering the various hoops immigrants must jump through to become naturalized, Hernan believed he had waited too long.
Unfortunately, since the mass mobilizations of immigrants and their allies this spring, Congressional leaders have remained stuck in a stalemate about how to proceed with the House and Senate versions of a federal immigration bill. Immigrants have been watching this stalemate with growing alarm as House Republican leaders, in particular, appear to be growing further entrenched in their opposition to a comprehensive immigration reform proposal that would grant a path to citizenship to undocumented immigrants and, among other things, increase the number of visas to reunite families.
Last week, House and Senate leaders also announced that they would hold hearings on the various immigration proposals in communities outside of Washington, D.C. Such political posturing only serves to make clear that it may be months before Congress will be ready to buckle down and work on a compromise bill, and that congressional leaders lack the vision, leadership and will to make it happen.
At the same time, news of other provisions in both bills that threaten the civil liberties of immigrants and citizens is also beginning to spread in immigrant communities. Immigrants are, therefore, arming themselves with knowledge and taking their future into their own hands. The media are reporting a sudden upsurge in applications for citizenship.
Either by naturalizing to become citizens or by registering to vote, immigrants, citizens and their allies are not going to wait for Congress to move on an immigration bill before they claim their own stake in our democracy. As the summer heats up, immigrants will be engaged like never before through this campaign to turn immigrants into citizens and marchers into voters.
