Naturalization Up Among Immigrants
High Rates in Md., Va., Report Says

By Darryl Fears
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, March 29, 2007

The number of naturalized citizens in the United States grew to nearly 13 million between 1995 and 2005, a historic increase that reflects the nation's changing ethnic makeup and could increase the power of immigrants to affect public policy at the ballot box, according to a study released yesterday by the Pew Hispanic Center.

More than half of the nation's legal immigrants are now naturalized citizens, "the highest level in a quarter century and a 15 percent increase since 1990," when the proportion of naturalized immigrants reached historic lows, the study said. Since 1995, the average number of yearly naturalizations has surpassed 650,000, compared with 150,000 in 1970.

Maryland was one of five states where more than 70 percent of eligible immigrants became citizens. The number of naturalizations in Maryland rose to 274,000 in 2005 from 120,000 in 1995.

Sixty-five percent of Virginia's eligible immigrants were naturalized in 2005, along with 50 percent of eligible immigrants in the District.

"We've seen dramatic changes in countries across the board," said Jeffrey Passel, the Pew Hispanic Center's senior research associate. "Today's immigrants are interested in becoming U.S. citizens," he said.

Mexicans were by far the largest group to naturalize, at more than 1.5 million. The number represented a 144 percent increase over 10 years, and it could have been much higher because Mexicans are the least likely of all groups to naturalize, Passel said. Another 3 million are eligible.

Immigrants from Cuba, China and the Philippines followed Mexicans as the largest groups to naturalize, Passel said. Most settled in four states -- California, New York, Texas and Florida.

The study, based on census data, did not address immigration policy or politics, and Passel declined to comment on those issues, except to say the trend would probably increase immigrant voting.

Immigrant residents with higher levels of education and better English skills are more likely to naturalize, Passel said. An additional 8.5 million legal immigrants are eligible to naturalize, but that group is made up of those who are least likely to do so. "They tend to be poorer; they tend to speak English less well and have lower levels of education," Passel said.

The increase in naturalizations can be partly attributed to the 1986 amnesty by the Reagan administration, Passel said. More than 3 million illegal immigrants became permanent residents, and many became eligible for citizenship in the early to mid-1990s after living in the country for five consecutive years.

Other immigration experts said the increase is also the result of laws that barred states from providing welfare and other subsidies to non-citizens in the 1990s, forcing eligible immigrants to naturalize.

The study comes amid a tense debate over immigration.

Early this year, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, a division of the Department of Homeland Security, caused an uproar by dramatically increasing citizenship application fees and toughening citizenship tests. Opponents said the government was throwing up a barrier to legal immigrants to naturalize.

The new fees followed a more intense battle over illegal immigration, as politicians and citizens groups clashed over how to manage an estimated 12 million foreigners who entered the country illegally or who overstayed their visas since 1986.

Last week, two congressmen sought to address the problem of illegal immigration by proposing a temporary guest-worker program that would allow millions of illegal immigrants to remain in the United States if they paid a steep fine, left the country, returned legally and broke no additional law. Opponents said the bill amounts to another amnesty.

The new bill replaced earlier House legislation that sought to strengthen and strictly enforce federal laws targeting illegal immigrants in an effort to encourage them to leave the country. The bill sparked huge marches on behalf of undocumented immigrants before it died last year in a joint House-Senate conference committee.

At the marches, advocates vowed to encourage eligible immigrants to apply for citizenship and register to vote. Deepak Bhargava, executive director of the Center for Community Change, which advocates permanent residency for illegal immigrants, said the study shows "a response to immigrant bashing.

"I think we're on the cusp of seeing a national transformation," Bhargava said. "There are community organizations day in and day out that are registering people to vote, assisting people to become citizens, and I think it will pay off."

Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, a group that seeks to limit immigration, said that the increase is not surprising, and that the impact on immigrant voting will be marginal.

"I'm not sure what real-world political consequences it will have," Krikorian said. "Immigrants are not a monolithic voting bloc. I think it's easy to overplay that. I think this is a development to be applauded but not a political earthquake or anything like that."