Labor reaching out to help immigrants become American citizens


By ZITA ALLEN

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Published: July 14, 2005

In the public school sandwiched between Amsterdam and Audubon Avenues on West 182nd Street, several classrooms were bee hives of activity as men and women crammed themselves into the tiny tots desk chairs and, with a mixture of excitement and anticipation, carefully filled out forms that will help them get one step closer to gaining American citizenship.

One woman clutched several papers in her brown-skinned hands as she consented to talk to a reporter about why she was there.

"I read about this in the newspaper and I saw the notice - I knew I had to come. I've had the application for awhile but didn't know how to fill it out," she volunteered.

Fifteen years ago, she came to the United States from Honduras. She had always thought about going back home, but now, with her husband and children, she has made a life for herself here. She's also thought about becoming a United States citizen before but she hasn't taken the plunge until now.

She was not alone. For the men and women crowded into the school in Upper Manhattan last Saturday, the process of becoming a United States citizen has often seemed too complicated and too expensive. With the $390 the Immigration and Naturalization Service now charges for filling out the forms and the cost some outside services charge, it seemed prohibitive. Now things were being made a little easier an area labor unions reached out to help walk them through the process.

SEIU Local 32 BJ has partnered with the City University of New York's Citizenship and Immigration Project, the Spanish-language newspaper El Diario La Prensa, and several community-based organizations, Northern Manhattan Coalition for Immigrant Rights, Alianza Dominicana, Acción Comunitaria La Aurora and Latina PAC, to put citizenship within reach of many New York City residents.

The union and its partners were providing lawyers and paralegals to help Washington Heights residents who qualify to receive assistance with their citizenship application documents at no cost, other than the regular federal filing fees. They even provided the photographs free of charge, which must accompany the application forms.

"We have hundreds, maybe thousands, of people who have been in this country as legal residents for over 5 yeal-9 and they have not, for whatever reason, taken this step towards becoming a citizen. My mother has been here for 40 years and she has not become a citizen yet," said Raquel Batista, director of the Northern Manhattan Coalition for Immigrant Righs, whose organization's mission is to help people navigate these rough waters.

"For the union, this was a natural," says Local 32 BJ spokesperson Matt Nerzig. "Our union has some 75,000 members, 60,000 in New York City alone, and of those, some 60% are foreign born."

But this program goes beyond their membership, which has had access to this service since the late 1980s. This service isn't for our members, it's for the community."