The Fright Factor as an Incentive to Seek Citizenship

Rubie, who came to L.A. 20 years ago from her native El Salvador, will be voting in her first American election Tuesday. So will Josefina and Hortencia, who both came from Mexico more than 30 years ago.

Becoming U.S. citizens in the last year, they’re excited about voting in L.A.’s city election because they’ve heard many times that the vote is the most cherished of rights extended to U.S. citizens. But they’re scared too.

They’re afraid because they think public opinion, fueled by Proposition 187, has turned against non-citizens in general and against Latinos in particular. Even though they’re now citizens, they are still afraid they will be singled out for the country’s problems. When we met the other day in Rubie’s kitchen in South-Central, the three women were so concerned that they made me promise not to publish their full names.

“I became a citizen of the United States because I believe in this country,” Rubie explained. “But I also believe that there’s this anti-Latino sentiment out there. I don’t want to be blamed for anything. I didn’t do anything wrong but the general public doesn’t know that.

“So I will vote to make a difference. I will be very proud to cast my first vote in this country. But I’m scared at the same time. Isn’t that strange?”

Josefina and Hortencia nodded in agreement.

I’ve never heard of anyone being scared into becoming a U.S. citizen. It’s a choice I naturally assumed is made happily.

But the three women were worried about the growing anti-immigrant and anti-Latino public sentiment when they decided three years ago to become U.S. citizens. They thought citizenship would calm their fears, but it hasn’t.

“I still feel afraid,” Josefina said, “and I can’t make people understand why. I think the Los Angeles riots did it for me. I had a legal green card to be in this country, but I found the public blamed innocent people like me for what happened. That was stupid but I felt alone. I thought the only way to change that was to become a citizen. So I did.”

Added Hortencia: “I felt the same way. But still, Proposition 187 frightened me and that happened after I became a citizen. The feelings are so bad that some people don’t believe me when I tell them I am a U.S. citizen.”

It turns out that the three women, who practice their English watching--you won’t believe this--the O.J. Simpson trial, are not the only ones who are afraid.

Sparked by fear over the growing sentiment against immigrants, including the passage of Proposition 187, the number of legal immigrants applying to become U.S. citizens in recent months has increased dramatically.

Indeed, applications rose to 232,850 in a four-month period ending in January, approximately an 80% increase over the same period the year before. The increase was greatest in California, where Proposition 187 was born, and Texas, where supporters of Ross Perot contemplate a 187-like measure.

In L.A., a colleague of mine, Times reporter Patrick McDonnell, has learned that about 2,500 applications for citizenship are being received daily by U.S. immigration officials--a fivefold increase from a year ago. Officials with the Immigration and Naturalization Service in L.A. told McDonnell they expect the crush of applications to continue to overwhelm their personnel, who can handle a mere 600 applications a day.

In addition to the growing anti-immigrant sentiment, INS officials said the rush to obtain U.S. citizenship is prompted by the Republicans’ “contract with America,” which seeks a cutoff of many government programs now available to non-citizens.

The trio in Rubie’s kitchen spent most of our three hours together talking about the apprehension they felt before and after they became citizens. Looking at their faces, I could see that their fear, which I’m not sure I fully understand, is very real.

People should want to become U.S. citizen freely. They shouldn’t be frightened into it.

Rubie, Josefina and Hortencia feel the same way, but say these are difficult times in which decisions are made in weird ways. “I legally came to this country,” Rubie says. “I knew I’d eventually become a citizen but I feel I was forced into it by this anti-Latino feeling I sense. I won’t leave the U.S. I have contributed to this country. I have worked hard.

“I will vote (Tuesday), but I do wonder what people will say later. Will they say, ‘Did she belong in that booth?’ I hope not. I do belong.”