It was time for good news for our migrant community.
During fiscal year 2023, a total of 874,500 immigrants became citizens of the United States.
There is no doubt that the officials and employees of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) deserve applause for having achieved the impossible: practically eliminating the backlog of naturalization applications.
In fiscal year 2023, USCIS received 10.9 million applications and completed more than 10 million pending cases, both records in the agency’s history.
But that’s not all, the federal agency was also able to reduce the processing time of naturalization procedures by almost half. The average processing time for naturalization applicants decreased from 10.5 months to 6.1 months at the end of the fiscal year.
Although the number of naturalizations is not a record, since it does not exceed the mark of more than 1 million people in 2022, it is undoubtedly an important milestone. Hopefully that record will be broken in 2024 and millions will pass before the rate hike next April.
From this space we have advocated for many years about the importance of naturalization in the United States. Millions of Latinas and Latinos who are legal permanent residents are already eligible today.
The benefits of citizenship are significant, it not only shields immigrants from deportations, but also opens the door for the full exercise of political rights, that is, voting in elections, but also running for elected office.
At the national level there are more than 7,000 Latinas and Latinos elected or appointed in public positions, according to NALEO (National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials). It’s an important step forward, but it pales in comparison to our potential as the largest minority in the United States.
In Congress we only have 6 senators and in the House of Representatives’ 47 legislators. To have “parity”, that is, the number is proportional to our demographic weight, we should have 19 senators and more than 80 representatives.
That is to say, we still have a long way to go, but it will only be possible to reach the goal if more Latinas and Latinos not only vote, but also run.
“Our active participation fosters a more inclusive and representative society, where all voices have the opportunity to be heard,” immigration lawyer Rafael Borrás tells us.
In the United States there are more than half a million elected positions. From school systems, state legislatures, mayors, federal officials and the president. You can be the leader your community needs.
More than 36.2 million Latinos are eligible to vote on November 5 of this year, according to the Pew Center. If you are one of them, register to vote and exercise your right to vote. And for the next cycle, consider running and representing the interests, dreams and aspirations of our community.
