(original article) Miami Herald
Amid applause and tears, 205 immigrants from 35 countries took their oath of allegiance to their adoptive country last week and became U.S. citizens in a naturalization ceremony at the Miami office of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The ceremony was no different from many others that have taken place there. Yet the new citizens are part of an increase in citizen applications in South Florida and the rest of the country due to the growing interest among immigrants in the 2012 presidential election, immigration officials say.
“The number of naturalizations always goes up when there is an upcoming presidential election,” said Linda Swacina, USCIS district director in Miami. “I remember that for 2008 we had more naturalizations than in previous years. I believe voting is the primary reason for becoming citizens.”
Swacina’s analysis is confirmed by taking a glimpse at annual immigration statistics published by the Department of Homeland Security, which shows that the number of naturalizations increases regularly almost every four years.
Swacina said that in the district she supervises in South Florida, about 100,000 naturalizations were conducted in 2008, compared to the local annual average of 50,000. Immigration officials said that the agency’s internal figures also show an increase in the number of naturalizations nationwide with a preliminary figure of 749,087 during the 2011 fiscal year compared to 676,054 in 2010.
Officials say they expect the number of naturalizations to continue growing as the 2012 election gets closer.
Though the majority of new citizens interviewed after the naturalization ceremony said the election had nothing to do with their decision to become citizens, immigration activists expect many immigrants, primarily Hispanics, to seek their citizenship in order to vote in 2012 as the controversy over immigration reform remains unresolved.
Though President Barack Obama promised immigration reform in his campaign for the White House, he has recently said that without Republican support it will not be possible to legalize millions of undocumented immigrants.
The increase in naturalizations was disclosed in August in the immigration statistics yearbook issued by the Department of Homeland Security. According to the yearbook, the number of foreigners seeking citizenship in the 2010 fiscal year grew after a dramatic plunge in applications primarily due to the 2007-2008 economic crisis, which prompted many immigrants to postpone their plans to become U.S. citizens.
The yearbook also shows increases or numbers relatively stable in other important areas of immigration, such as asylum requests, residence and deportations. The Immigration and Custom Enforcement reported on Oct. 18 that in the 2011 fiscal year it deported 396,906 foreigners, the highest number of deportations in the history of the agency.
Of the total number of deportations, ICE said, almost 55 percent had criminal records either for felonies or misdemeanors. It is the first time that the number of deported criminals in a fiscal year exceeds the number of immigrants deported without a criminal record.
Though the decrease in the number of naturalizations after 2008 has been attributed partly on the economic crisis, the registered increase in 2010 is due to the interest of many immigrants in becoming citizens before the election.
Even though the majority of naturalized immigrants last week said they would register to vote, the election per se did not influence their decision to seek citizenship. In many cases, the objective was to have access to more work opportunities.
“You have to take the opportunities this country offers to American citizens,” said Marvin Parrales, from Nicaragua, one of the 205 new naturalized citizens.
Parrales is an automobile mechanic and dreams of becoming an aviation mechanic. To him, the possibility of better job opportunities was one of the main reasons to become a citizen, not voting.
“Aviation has always been my dream,” he said. “The election had nothing to do with my decision to become citizen. That is just a coincidence.”
Parrales was one of 20 Nicaraguans who became citizens that day.
Maury Aguilar, from Venezuela, also said that the election had nothing to do with her decision and that her goal is to become a dentist.
“From now on, everything is a new world,” Aguilar said.
Immigration officials encouraged the new citizens to register to vote.
“Among the very important rights you acquired today when you took your oath is the right to vote,” Swacina said in her speech during last week’s ceremony. “Citizenship is a privilege that offers you the extraordinary opportunity of being part of the process of governing this great nation.”
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