Group aims for 1,000 new citizens

Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2002 | 10:48 a.m.

A Las Vegas nonprofit group wants to help 1,000 immigrants become United States citizens this year. The effort comes as immigration officials say the Sept. 11 attacks appear to be causing a spike in citizenship applications nationwide.

"I think it's a time when people are going to be more interested in becoming citizens, whether it's because they want to participate more and support the country, or because they're afraid they may have their rights taken away if they don't apply," Silas Shawver, executive director of the Immigrant Workers' Citizenship Project, said.

The Immigration and Naturalization Service received 145,765 citizenship applications in October and November last year, compared with 90,741 for the same period of 2000 -- a 61 percent increase nationwide, INS spokesman Bill Strassberger said.

The agency's Western regional office saw applications jump 53 percent in the same period, a spokeswoman said. Figures for the Las Vegas INS office were not immediately available.

"There are certain historical events that trigger people to pursue citizenship," Strassberger said.

"In the 1990s, an amnesty program caused thousands to apply in order to petition for relatives in their native countries. In California Proposition 187 caused many people to apply, as they feared a loss of rights if they didn't.

"We may now be seeing a similar moment, where many who postponed becoming citizens are eager to do so."

The Immigrant Workers' Citizenship Project was formed in Las Vegas in July 2001 by the Culinary Union and opened its doors in October.

"We were doing workshops for our members who were residents and wanted to become citizens, but we just couldn't keep up with the demand," said Glenn Arnodo, Culinary political director and chairman of the citizenship project's board of directors.

"We also thought a separate nonprofit organization would be better able to help those immigrants who aren't union members."

The events of Sept. 11 cast the project's work in a new light, Arnodo said.

"First, we saw that many laid-off workers who were legal, tax-paying residents were not eligible for such benefits as food stamps -- whereas citizens in the same situation were.

"Then it was clear that many immigrants who might have put off applying for citizenship before were now concerned that the war against terrorism might result in their rights being affected in the future," he said. A visit to the project at its downtown office bore out Arnodo's claims. Located behind the George Federal Building, where nearly 4,000 people took an oath to become U.S. citizens last year, the office had seen a half-dozen people by noon. Only four immigrants a day would bring the nonprofit to its 1,000 goal this year.

Nilo Patolot was one of them. A native of the Philippines, he has been a resident, a step in immigration status below citizenship, for 13 years. He works as a chef at the Golden Nugget.

Patolot said he had put off applying for citizenship for years, but friends and relatives were now telling him he should go through with it.

"An uncle of mine who has been a citizen for decades told me I better do it now in case the government changes its laws on residents after what happened," he said.

Pedro Luis Ruiz, 47, has been in Las Vegas for six years and works as a utility porter at the Stratosphere hotel-casino.

A Cuban, he was made a permanent resident a year after arriving in the United States in 1985. At work he receives most of his orders in Spanish, and his poor English had led him to put off applying for citizenship.

"But now I need to do this," he said.

"I'm afraid that things could change at any minute now, and suddenly I'll be told that I'm no longer welcome here."

The project is currently the only source of one-stop free assistance to immigrants in Southern Nevada seeking citizenship, a process that can take up to eight months and includes filing with the INS and passing English and U.S. history and government exams given by the immigration agency.

Shawver said that the project is working closely with the Las Vegas INS office to ensure that applicants meet the agency's requirements and with a local adult high school to prepare applicants for the citizenship exam.

He said that 80 percent of the people seeking help from the project are Hispanic and 10 percent are from the Philippines. About 85 percent are members of a union.

"There are patriotic and more self-interested reasons for people wanting to become citizens after Sept. 11," Shawver said.

"But I think we'll be seeing a lot more people coming to us in the coming months."