Applications for Citizenship Soar in L.A.

The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service in Los Angeles is buckling under the weight of an unprecedented surge in citizenship applications, which are up 500% from just a year ago--triggered in part by an inflamed political climate after the passage of Proposition 187.

The dramatic increase in applications is part of a national trend, but the crush is most acute in Los Angeles, the nation’s busiest INS district by many measures. The rise has resulted in an eight-month delay in processing citizenship applications here.

The INS in Los Angeles is receiving about 2,500 citizenship applications daily, a tenfold increase from the rate just 18 months ago.

Beleaguered officials, now able to interview up to about 600 applicants daily, project a continuing rise through 1995, increasing already huge backlogs that mean frustrating delays for citizenship-seekers.

“We are simply overwhelmed by the numbers of applications we are receiving daily,” said Donald B. Looney, deputy district director of the INS office in Los Angeles.

Several factors are driving more people to sign up to become citizens, a process known as naturalization, but many interviewed cite a common motivation: fear of an anti-immigrant sentiment embodied in the Proposition 187 movement and proposed cutbacks in benefits even for immigrants in the country legally.

“They may change the laws so that even legal immigrants lose their rights,” said Maria Guadalupe Chavez, a 33-year-old native of Mexico and mother of four U.S.-born children, who passed the citizenship test this week in Los Angeles. “I’m not sure that opportunities will remain for immigrants who aren’t citizens.”

The growing delays in processing applications, critics say, illustrate once again how Congress, the Clinton Administration and top INS management in Washington have emphasized enforcement while letting service suffer. Detractors say millions of dollars in fees from citizenship applicants have been sitting in INS accounts, while money is pumped into hiring Border Patrol agents and other enforcement measures.

“Citizenship is getting the short end of the stick,” complained Susan Alva, an attorney with the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, one of a number of advocacy groups promoting citizenship drives, in part aimed at bolstering immigrants’ electoral clout.

While Proposition 187 focused on cutting public services for illegal immigrants, its critics have long contended that the campaign for the ballot measure was part of a broader backlash against all immigrants, regardless of status. Now, Congress is poised to slash benefits for legal immigrants, a move that many fear will create further divisions between citizen and non-citizen residents.

“The whole anti-immigrant sentiment has gone way beyond targeting the undocumented,” said Arturo Vargas, executive director of the National Assn. of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, another group promoting citizenship drives.

Most experts estimate that there are at least 8 million legal immigrants who are not U.S. citizens--twice the number of illegal immigrants.

The Los Angeles district’s expanding backlog of would-be citizens is now approaching 170,000, more than four times the number a year ago. Applicants must wait eight months for an appointment and, once they pass citizenship tests, another 45 days or so until they can be sworn in. Even INS officials lament the delays, particularly since applicants ante up a $90 fee that covers processing costs.

“If someone is paying a fee for a government service, then they should be entitled to it in a timely fashion,” acknowledged the INS’ Looney, who said he is hopeful of getting additional staff shortly. “I don’t think anyone should have to wait a year to become a U.S. citizen.”

Strapped managers have had to shuffle personnel from Los Angeles International Airport and elsewhere to the central INS office in Downtown Los Angeles.

Throughout the United States, citizenship applications are rising at unprecedented rates, authorities say, reflecting near-record immigration levels since the 1980s. Total naturalizations this year may top a U.S. high of 442,000 set half a century ago in 1944, during a period of wartime anxiety.

The local INS district covers a seven-county swath of Southern California that is the favored destination of recent immigrants. The area is home to perhaps one-third of the 3 million formerly illegal immigrants who received amnesty during the 1980s and recently completed the five-year residency requirement for citizenship. The presence of the amnesty population, along with fears of growing anti-immigrant sentiment, help explain the huge increase in naturalization applications here.

A current INS program that requires longtime residents to replace their so-called green cards has also prompted tens of thousands of legal immigrants to come forward and belatedly apply for citizenship, sometimes years or even decades after they first became eligible.

Applicants for naturalization must demonstrate a knowledge of U.S. civics and, in most cases, proficiency in English. Citizenship confers a number of privileges, including the right to vote, serve on juries and hold certain government jobs now barred for foreign nationals.

Mexican nationals--by far the largest group of immigrants in Southern California--are traditionally among the least likely foreign residents to become U.S. citizens. Experts cite various reasons for the phenomenon: sentimental attachments to their homeland, fear of losing property rights in Mexico, concerns about the complicated application process and, in particular, the requirement that applicants demonstrate some proficiency in English.

But activists say the evolving political climate toward immigrants has finally prompted many Mexican citizens to take the citizenship pledge.

“I’m very happy here, and I don’t want any problems,” said Teofilo Avad, a father of eight who took the citizenship test last week after residing in the United States for more than 25 years.

Those applying, however, include a wide array of nationalities, even for polyglot Los Angeles. Asians, who traditionally have had high naturalization rates, are prominent among the applicants.

Explained Yoon Kyun Hur, an 18-year-old native of Korea who took the test last week, “I’m going to live here the rest of my life, so I think it makes sense that I become a citizen.”

* GEORGE RAMOS: Three new citizens remain fearful about anti-Latino sentiment. B3

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Clamoring for Citizenship

The Immigration and Naturalization Service has been experiencing an unprecedented surge in citizenship applications, particularly in Los Angeles. Many immigrants say they are seeking protection against what they call an increasingly hostile mood against all immigrants, regardless of status.

Average daily applications at Los Angeles INS office: OCTOBER: 768 NOVEMBER: 735 DECEMBER: 877 JANUARY: 847 FEBRUARY: 1,440 MARCH: 1,960 APRIL: 2,500* * As of Friday

Source: U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service