Why become a US citizen?

As a child growing up on a small fruit farm in Solano County, I watched my immigrant parents navigate American society to build a successful life in what they called the “Beautiful Country.” Like most immigrants, they came to the United States in search of a better life for their children. They came with almost nothing and had to work as farmworkers in California.

As a child, I watched my father read his ballot over and over and over every day so that he could vote in all the American elections at the time. [“Back in the day,” there were no bilingual ballots.] He was very proud to be an American. That model of my immigrant farmworker parents with little education is still alive today in the people APILO serves.

Today, there are approximately 9 million lawful permanent residents (green card holders/LPRs) who are eligible to naturalize as U.S. citizens. Would they have changed the course of history if all had naturalized before 2016 and voted in that presidential election? In California, there are approximately 500,000 Asian and Pacific Islander Americans (API’s) who are eligible to naturalize and 1.4 million Latinos who are eligible to naturalize. That’s approximately 2 million potential voters that could be added to the voter rolls. What a boost to the civic engagement and voting power of California if they could all become U.S. citizens.

Over half of immigrant households are mixed status households, i.e., in the same household, some members are documented (with legal status) and some members are undocumented (who are here illegally.) By naturalizing, the new U.S. citizen can help sponsor more family members such as parents, married sons and daughters and siblings. LPRs are not able to sponsor the aforementioned family members. They can only sponsor spouses, children and unmarried sons and daughters. As the U.S. population ages, these additional family members are critical to the support and caregiving of our seniors and to the extended families and American society at large.

Another benefit of citizenship is the ability to travel throughout the world without limitations. A person who is an LPR (green card holder) cannot be abroad for more than six months. A U.S. citizen can be abroad for however long they choose to be abroad. In fact, some naturalized citizens choose to retire in their birth countries because the U.S. dollar has more purchasing power in those countries. The U.S. passport is still respected around the world.

Overall, immigrants add to the nation’s economy. They don’t take away jobs. They create more jobs and generate more commerce. According to the California Immigrant Data Portal, immigrants contributed $406 billion, yes I said BILLION dollars to California’s economy through paying federal, state and local taxes and through immigrant spending power. According to University of Washington researcher, Jacob Vigdor, immigrants annually contribute $3.7 TRILLION to the housing markets nationwide.

Naturalizing from a lawful permanent resident (LPR/green card holder) to a U.S. citizen has many benefits. Most of all, the applicant achieves a greater integration into American society for themselves, their families and their communities.

Do you want to help our fellow community members become citizens?  If so, you can volunteer at one of our naturalization events that APILO co-sponsors.  In addition to contacting APILO directly, check out https://sfcitizenship.org/ for more information.