Immigrant advocates are lobbying Washington area state and local governments, plus private organizations, for $15 million to help legal permanent residents in the region become citizens.
Elected officials from Maryland and Virginia joined non-profit leaders from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and immigrant advocacy groups CASA of Maryland and Tenants and Workers United of Northern Virginia on Wednesday to detail challenges faced by the roughly 270,000 legal area immigrants wo are eligible to become citizens.
Speakers decried “barriers” ranging from the difficulty of the citizenship civics exam, lack of information about the process, fees and paperwork, all of which they said create obstacles to citizenship. Last summer, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services agency raised the fee for citizenship applications from $400 to $675, a 69 percent increase, and a surge of applications before the rate increase caused processing time to double to about 1.5 years. Many wait longer — local Chinese immigrant Helen Xiaohui He said she began her citizenship application process in 2003, but is still waiting.
“I don’t know where my status is and the only word I get is just ‘wait,’ ”
she said.
Leaders want to create “naturalization support centers” throughout the Washington area. The centers would refer legal permanent residents to English classes, offer legal assistance and citizenship preparation, and provide basic information about the application process.
Group organizers say they have a meeting scheduled this summer with Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett and are in discussions with representatives from area governments. They acknowledged that the more immigrants who become citizens, the more who can vote — a bonus when local and state governments are wrestling with illegal immigration issues.
“This is about as American as apple pie,” Arlington County Board Chairman Walter Tejada said, of helping people become citizens. “Well, maybe with a little salsa, a little sushi and a little chow mein on the side.”
The project, however, was shut out of funding during the recent state legislative cycles in both Maryland and Virginia — leaders say they were unable to convince Gov. Martin O’Malley to add a supplemental appropriation for the centers this year and that Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine pursued $500,000 for the pilot project, but legislators stripped it out.
“I am just wondering why this is necessary — my mom got her citizenship without the help of any centers,” Virginia Del. Jeff Frederick said. “I feel like, if we’ve got $15 million, let’s go build some roads.”
