Legal immigrants, particularly the Latino group, are rushing to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to become naturalized citizens in time for the 2016 U.S. Presidential elections and vote against GOP hopeful, Donald John Trump.
While it is normal for citizenship applications to increase during the years of presidential elections, this year has seen significant rise of legal migrants wanting to become American citizens. The USCIS, as stated in CNN, revealed a 14.5% jump in naturalization applications in the second half of 2015 compared to the same period in the previous year.
The application figures are expected to rise weekly, until the end of April, to allow for the five months processing time, and their name be included in the November elections. An estimation of one million applications could be made this year, about 200,000 more than the average in recent years, the New York Times disclosed.
"Among 8.8 million legal residents eligible to naturalize, about 2.7 million are Mexicans...But after decades of low naturalization rates, only 36 percent of eligible Mexicans have become citizens, while 68 percent of all other immigrants have done so," as reported in the New York Times.
Despite the $680 fee needed for the application process, why do Latinos still badly want to get their citizenship approved this year?
Trump has been vocal in his campaigns by describing Mexicans as criminals, drug traffickers, and rapists. He has promised America that he would allocate budget to build a border wall and deport illegal immigrants in the U.S., the International Business Times reported. The presidential candidate argued that this would benefit millions of legal immigrants.
The Latinos are speaking up.
Juana Salinas, a 58-year-old who lived in the U.S. for 20 years, said in an interview by the Times of Israel, "It's a lot of money for us, but this time we really wanted to find it. What Mr. Trump said about us is terrible, and the only way to close the valve is to vote.''
Minerva Guerrero Salazar, 40, who has moved from Mexico to America in 2002, also told the New York Times: "Donald Trump never! Never! He has no conscience when he speaks of Latinos. And he is so rude. I don't know what kind of education his mother gave him."
The Latinos form the largest group of legal immigrants in the country, comprising of 4.5 million individuals who are eligible for naturalization. CNN reports that In Nevada alone, there are more than 64,000 eligible to become citizens. Colorado has some 57,000. Florida is home to 415,000. Arizona has at least 139,000. Texas has at least 750,000 Latinos who can be naturalized. These figures could be a game-changer for Trump.
