The Latino vote in last month’s primary elections emphasizes that now is the time for immigration services to be in full force.
But the naturalization process takes months, potentially preventing those who apply now from voting in the fall.
In Illinois’ primary election last month, Latinos made up 17 percent of the votes cast. But there are about 1.9 million Latino residents in this state, and about 708,000 of them are eligible voters, according to the Pew Hispanic Center, a nonpartisan think tank based in Washington, D.C.
Every Latino vote, however, is politically significant. Nationally, the Latino population has supported New York Sen. Hillary Clinton over Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, a factor that could ultimately sway the tight race for the Democratic presidential nomination.
The motivations for Latinos to vote also are socially significant. They fear federal crackdowns on undocumented immigrants working in U.S. businesses. They see crimes that go unreported because they fear involving the local police, who also are trying to regulate immigration in the absence of federal reform. And, most of all, immigrants seek a voice in the debate about creating a path to citizenship for people who have lived and worked in this country for more than five years.
Meanwhile, at the state level, grass-roots efforts continue through the so-called New Americans Initiative to help immigrants earn citizenship. The effort slowed last year, however, when state money for advertising of citizenship services wasn’t renewed and when a federal backlog discouraged immigrants from applying.
The combination of state and federal changes challenged efforts by the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. The Chicago-based nonprofit partners with the state to administer the New Americans Initiative to help immigrants apply for citizenship and, ultimately, to vote.
The group hopes that last year’s dip in applicant numbers will rebound this spring.
So far the initiative has helped 30,000 individuals apply and 170,000 more get information since launching in 2005, according to Luvia Quinones, the coalition’s interim director of the New Americans Initiative. With state funds, the coalition distributes grants to numerous local agencies to reach all kinds of immigrants, particularly those who are the most unlikely to take the steps needed to earn citizenship. That’s predominantly Hispanics, Quinones says.
Gov. Rod Blagojevich announced the New Americans Initiative in 2004 by promising $3 million a year to help 20,000 immigrants with the naturalization exam. That funding has come through every year. And last fiscal year, the coalition received an extra $400,000 to advertise on television and radio stations to raise awareness.
That state support combined with a national swelling of activity accomplished that goal.
“When it kicked off in 2005, it actually had a really, really high energy,” Quinones says. “It continued through 2006 mainly because of the immigrant marches.”
She refers to more than 100,000 people taking to the streets of Chicago last spring, gaining national attention during the federal debate over proposed immigration reforms. More immigrants rallied in central Illinois’ Beardstown, which has a large Latino population because of its pork processing plant.
The heightened awareness allowed the coalition and the agencies to reach thousands of Hispanics, in particular. While the Latino population is the fastest-growing in the country, 44 percent of them are not U.S. citizens, according to the Pew Hispanic Center. Quinones adds that Hispanics are up to three times as unlikely as Eastern European and Asian immigrants to go through the naturalization process.
She says at least 80 percent of the 30,000 immigrants who applied for citizenship through the New Americans Initiative since 2005 are Hispanics.
Summer of 2007 was a setback. A federal backlog of applications discouraged Illinois’ immigrants from plugging through the process that already stretched eight months on average.
The backlog is rooted, in part, in a record number of immigrants applying through the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the agency that grants or denies immigration benefits to people who want to live and work in this country. According to the agency’s January testimony before a U.S. House committee, more than 3 million individuals applied or petitioned for immigration benefits last summer. That’s about double the number who applied the same time one year earlier.
The fear of new federal rules, including a revamped test and higher application fees, contributed to the 2007 surge (see Illinois Issues, September 2007, page 19). Anticipating a fee increase from $400 to $675, for instance, led thousands of immigrants to file applications before the change took effect that July. Those who applied around then have waited more than a year for their applications to be processed.
At the same time in Illinois, the Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights got another round of $3 million from the state. But its request for an extra $500,000 for more advertising was denied.
“It’s pretty damaging,” Quinones says. “Due to the funding, we had to not only cut our media budget but also some of the organizations’ budgets. Each of them actually saw a 6 percent cut in their grants.”
The Logan Square Neighborhood Association based in Chicago is one example. The grass-roots organization serves multi-ethnic Logan Square neighborhood. It gets money from the Illinois coalition to run monthly workshops that help clients fill out citizenship applications. With the help of other community organizations, the association also offers volunteer legal screenings of the applications and a loan program to cover the $675 application fee.
The cuts in grant amounts were felt by agency workers, who put in longer hours and could provide fewer resources to volunteers, says Monica Garreton, community organizer and one of the three people working on immigration in general for the Logan Square association.
“We always feel it. We’re a nonprofit. It’s never enough to begin with, and then when that money’s cut, it’s even worse. But we’re committed to it. We make due.”
They make due just as demand increases. They have to keep numbers up if they want to compete for state funding.
“We’re kind of at the mercy of legislators in that aspect,” Garreton says. “If the money’s coming from the state, the legislators are the ones who decide where that goes. It’s not always towards what we want.”
On the other hand, legislators often support the coalition’s initiatives, but they can’t promise funding. That was the case with last year’s We Want to Learn English program, an initiative recommended by the governor’s New Americans Immigrant Policy Council and the State Interagency Task Force.
“Everyone voted for it,” Garreton says of the English program. “And then nobody put any money towards it. So how are we supposed to teach English to thousands of people without any funding for it?”
When advertisements died down and immigrants heard they’d have to pay $675 to apply, the number of applications processed through the New Americans Initiative dropped.
“Starting from August to the present, [the numbers] can’t compare to last year,” Quinones says. “They’re less than half, and it’s due to the fee increase.”
January sparked change. Because more immigrants wanted to participate in elections and because some also adjusted to the higher fees, Quinones says 300 individuals applied in one weekend alone that month.
The state and the feds might not have a choice but to keep up with the momentum. By 2050, one in five Americans could be an immigrant if current trends continue, according to the Pew Research Center, another Washington, D.C.-based think tank of the Pew Charitable Trusts. It projects that nationwide 67 million immigrants and their 50 million children or grandchildren will contribute to a population boost through the next 40 years. Currently, one in eight Americans is an immigrant, according to the center.
Garreton says the majority of her clients, who are legal permanent residents, took steps to earn citizenship so they could have a voice in this year’s elections. Others applied because they feel a backlash against immigrants of all types.
“Many of them have family members that are either undocumented, or they were once undocumented,” she says. “They know what it’s like. And so being able to vote and being able to have a voice and become a citizen gives them a power that lets them have a voice for those who can’t have one.”
They see a connection between earning citizenship and participating in the debate about creating a path for more than 12 million immigrants to do the same. And they want to exercise the power to vote for candidates who match their views on issues that resonate with most Americans — the economy and the war in Iraq.
Regardless of state or federal support, the coalition and other grass-roots organizations will continue helping more immigrants become citizens and register to vote.
“We really don’t want 150,000 individuals to become citizens and not exercise their voice,” Quinones says.
The effort slowed last year, however, when state money for advertising of citizenship services wasn’t renewed and when a federal backlog discouraged immigrants from applying.
Bethany Carson can be reached at capitolbureau@aol.com.
Illinois Issues, March 2008
