Tucson Region: Path to naturalization is focus of immigrant-citizenship fair

By Lourdes Medrano
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona Published: 08.04.2006

While immigration proposals appear all but dead this election year, immigrant-rights advocates are moving ahead with efforts to make citizens out of immigrants so they can vote.

"We're trying to live up to the slogan that was used in marches across the country: 'Today we march, tomorrow we vote,' " said Isabel Garcia of the Coalición de Derechos Humanos, a local human-rights group.

Advocacy groups are holding fairs and workshops across the country to help legal permanent residents apply for citizenship.

Garcia said hundreds of Arizonans already are on their way to become naturalized citizens. Tucson immigrants who obtained permanent residency at least five years ago — or three years if married to a U.S. citizen — will have a chance to begin the citizenship process Saturday at El Rio Neighborhood Center.

"We're trying to naturalize as many people as we can," said Garcia, who also co-chairs the Arizona Coalition for Migrant Rights. Citizenship fairs, which are being held along with voter registration drives in various U.S. cities, Garcia said, "for us are very important tools to demand political representation."
About 200,000 immigrants in Arizona are eligible for citizenship, according to a

June report by the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. An estimated 9.4 million immigrants nationally are eligible for citizenship.
Jennifer Allen, executive director of Tucson's Border Action Network, said the goal is not only to encourage immigrants to become citizens, but also to promote civic participation.

"Only by coming together can we overcome the challenges facing our communities," Allen added.

Said Lourdes Gomez of the Luz Southside Coalition, "It's time for immigrants in Tucson and along Arizona's border community to take their future into their own hands."

Hundreds of thousands of immigrants — both those living in the country legally and illegally — and their supporters poured into the streets in the spring in support of legalization for those living in the country illegally, as well as to protest what they called unfair immigration proposals in Congress. Lawmakers have failed to reach a compromise on different proposals: a House bill that focuses on border enforcement and a Senate proposal that includes a guest-worker program and a chance for qualified people to apply for legalization.

● Contact reporter Lourdes Medrano at 573-4347 or lmedrano@azstarnet.com.

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