DOWNTOWN : Citizenship Program Aids Immigrants

A new citizenship program launched by the Asian Pacific American Legal Center not only helps Asian and Pacific Islander immigrants with naturalization, but also encourages their involvement in the community and the political process.

The program, Immigrants Mobilized to Participate in American Citizenship Training, organizes community workshops in which volunteer attorneys and local volunteers, most of them bilingual, help individuals fill out citizenship applications and get their required fingerprints and photographs taken. The program started last month.

Applicants can also pay their $90 processing fee to the Immigration and Naturalization Service at the Saturday morning workshops, which are usually conducted at community centers in areas with large concentrations of Asians and Pacific Islanders. The program charges an additional $25 to cover administrative costs for the workshop.

“That’s still much cheaper than (hiring) a private attorney,” said Ed Anciano, one of the program coordinators.

Anciano said that the naturalization process can be confusing and intimidating even for those who speak and understand English well. For immigrants with limited English skills, tackling a list of questions that include “Are you a bigamist?” and “Have you knowingly committed any crime for which you have not been arrested?” can be truly excruciating, Anciano said.

The workshops provide a one-stop way for prospective citizens to take care of the variety of requirements and file their applications. “We want to make it as easy and convenient as possible,” Anciano said.

Program coordinators plan to organize follow-up workshops to help applicants prepare for their final INS interviews through role-playing and mock interviews. The INS usually does not schedule an interview until about nine months after an application is submitted, Anciano said, and that provides a perfect time for such follow-up workshops.

Another goal of the program is to organize community gatherings that educate Asians and Pacific Islanders about the benefits and responsibilities of citizenship, including the importance of voting and civic participation.

Although Asians and Pacific Islanders are considered the fastest-growing ethnic group in the United States--more than doubling between 1980 and 1990 and expected to triple to more than 20 million by 2020--the community has little political representation, project organizers said.

Through education, program coordinators hope to organize the communities, particularly some of the newer, less-unified groups such as Southeast Asians, to become more involved in community, regional and national matters, Anciano said.

Even those individuals who become citizens often fail to exercise their rights and get involved, community leaders said.

“They don’t realize they’re the ones who can make a change,” said Tua’au Pele Faletogo, a Samoan chief who helped organize a recent workshop for the Samoan community in Carson. “Some feel: ‘What’s my one vote going to do?’ But if 50,000 people are thinking the same thing. . . .”

The Samoan leader said he hopes in particular to break down apathy among American Samoans, who are U.S. nationals but do not have the right to vote. “Many don’t think citizenship is necessary . . . but they cannot vote. I say to the people: ‘It’s a mandate to become a citizen . . . and get involved in the changes going on in this country.’ ”

Elia Tomanogi is one who realized his responsibility. The 32-year-old native of American Samoa woke up at 5 a.m. to trek from his San Diego County home to the Carson workshop, mainly out of concern for his family’s--particularly his infant daughter’s--future.

“Pretty soon, my little girl is going to go to school, and I want the right to get up and . . . vote,” Tomanogi said.

Information: (213) 748-2022.