CITIZENSHIP INTEREST SURGES

The Miami Herald - Sunday, August 1, 2004
Author: ALFONSO CHARDY, achardy@herald.com

Heber Siri, a Uruguayan immigrant in South Florida, will become an American citizen later this month. And as soon as the ceremony is over, he will register to vote.

``That's why I'm becoming a citizen,'' Siri, who works at a Coral Gables car dealership, said. ``I want to vote.''

Siri, 55, will be among the 9,000 new citizens who will recite the oath of allegiance in two large naturalization ceremonies Aug. 10 and 11 at the Miami Beach Convention Center. Nationwide, more than 40,000 immigrants are expected to become new Americans in August.

They're part of a surge of immigrants in South Florida and across the United States who plan to become citizens in coming weeks - many of them driven by the desire to be eligible to vote in time for the presidential election.

Federal statistics show that almost half a million immigrants have sought citizenship between October and May, 32 percent more than in the same period last fiscal year.

A similar trend has been observed in Florida. Almost 54,000 immigrants applied for citizenship between October and May, a 63 percent increase over the previous eight-month period.

An urge to vote is certainly not the only factor. Immigration officials note that many applicants were probably trying to avoid a fee increase in April, when the basic cost of filing a citizenship application went up from $260 to $320. There was a similar spike in applications in an eight-month period in fiscal year 2002, when another fee increase took effect. Slightly more than 53,000 filed applications then.

But a review of citizenship application figures since the 1970s shows increases in application filings every election year except 2000.

``I've taken phone calls from people who say, `If I file for citizenship now, will I be able to vote?' '' said John Shewairy, Florida district chief of staff for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

To be able to vote in a specific election, eligible immigrants must plan carefully. It takes months, sometimes more than a year, to become a citizen. Then new citizens must register at local election offices before a certain deadline.

In Miami-Dade and Broward counties, citizens must register by Oct. 4 if they want to vote on Nov. 2. The deadline for the Aug. 31 primary is Monday.

Patricia Lima, a private banker in the Brickell Avenue financial district, planned well in advance. She became a citizen in September to make sure she could vote in the presidential election, her first as an American.

``We're living such a delicate moment, both foreign and domestic, that I feel will be impacted by the choice of a leader in this nation, and I wanted very much to be part of that,'' the Brazilian-born Lima said.

She said this is particularly significant for new citizens in Florida, a battleground state in this year's election and epicenter of the 2000 election crisis.

``The most precious of benefits of being a citizen is the right to vote. It speaks for itself,'' said Miami immigration attorney Michael Bander , who has helped thousands of immigrants become citizens over the years.

Election analysts this year are watching closely because newly naturalized voters could spell the margin of victory in what is expected to be a very close election.

James Gimpel, a professor of government at the University of Maryland who tracks new citizen voter participation, said the more that new citizens join the voter rolls, the more Democrats benefit.

``They vote overwhelmingly in favor of Democrats,'' Gimpel said.

The exception, he said, is Cuban immigrants, who vote largely Republican. In the 2000 election, the Cuban-American vote was 79 percent for Bush.

The two immigrants interviewed for this article said they planned to vote against President Bush.

Both major parties welcome immigrants who become citizens and vote. Some partisans, however, have gone beyond encouraging.

In Jacksonville last month, apparent Republican Party volunteers at a booth gave new citizens voter forms that registered them as Republicans - without first asking them their preferred party affiliations.

Jack Bulger, Florida district director for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, said the group was not authorized to pass out the prechecked voter registration forms.

Bulger said no other city in Florida has experienced similar problems.

Efforts to exploit the immigrant vote are not new.

In 1995, during the Clinton administration, the now-defunct Immigration and Naturalization Service announced Citizenship USA, a program to reduce application backlogs.

Investigators discovered later that immigration officials had been so aggressive in making immigrants citizens that many slipped through security checks with criminal convictions, a bar to citizenship.

Partly as a result of Citizenship USA, a record number of immigrants became citizens in the presidential election year 1996: more than one million.

WHERE TO REGISTER TO VOTE THROUGH MONDAY

TODAY

* 8 a.m.-noon: Our Lady of Lourdes, 11291 SW 142nd Ave., Miami.

* Noon-6 p.m.: Aventura Mall, 19501 Biscayne Blvd., Aventura.

* Noon-6 p.m.: Southland Mall, 20505 South Dixie Hwy., Miami.

* Noon-6 p.m.: Mall at 163rd Street, 1421 NE 163rd St., North Miami Beach.

MONDAY

* 9 a.m.-2 p.m.: Community Police Office, 144 NE Eighth St., Homestead.

* 10 a.m.-noon: Coconut Grove Neighborhood Center, 3750 S. Dixie Hwy., Miami.

* 11 a.m.-7 p.m.: Aventura Mall.

* 11 a.m.-7 p.m.: Southland Mall.

* 11 a.m.-7 p.m.: Mall at 163rd Street.

SOURCE: Miami-Dade Elections Department website

CHANGES IN NUMBER OF APPLICATIONS

In every presidential election year in the last three decades, the number of immigrants filing citizenship applications has risen over the previous year - except in 2000, when it dropped. One reason for the drop may have been the record number of applications filed and processed between 1992 and 1998. Here's a look at changes for every presidential election year over the prior year since 1972:

1972 11%

1976 6%

1980 16%

1984 52%

1988 2%

1992 66%

1996 33%

2000 -40% Caption: photo: Heber Siri (a), Patricia Lima (a)
TAKING PART: Heber Siri, above, will be among 9,000 immigrants taking the oath of allegiance in naturalization ceremonies Aug. 10-11 in Miami Beach. The Brazilian-born Patricia Lima, left, became a U.S. citizen in September so she could vote in the presidential election. `We're living such a delicate moment . . . that I feel will be impacted by the choice of a leader in this nation,' Lima says.