By Adolfo Flores

Members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and national Hispanic organizations announced Sept. 27 they are closing in on their goal of helping one million legal permanent residents become citizens under the campaign ya es hora ¡Ciudadanía!

“There are eight million legal permanent residents which can be citizens today and four million of them are Latino,” said William Ramos, Washington director of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials. “This creates an incredible powerbase for the Latino community.”

The campaign was launched in Los Angeles in January 2007 by NALEO, the National Council of La Raza, the Service Employees International Union and Spanish-language media. It has reached more than 20 cities across the nation.

Its sponsors claim that so far it has helped some 800,000 people become citizens.

From January to July 2007 the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services received 71% more applications than it received during the same period last year, said Ramos.

Pointing out that the United States is home to 45 million Latinos, Rep. Joe Baca (DCalif.), chair of the caucus, commented, “We need to utilize and emphasize that at the polls…When we demonstrate it at the polls, we’re going to make a difference.”

Ya es hora ¡Ciudadanía! is the first phase of the campaign. During the next phase, which will be named ya es hora ¡Ve Y Vota! campaign members will attempt to register thousands and have more than half a million Latinos who are naturalized cast ballots in the 2008 elections.

“We must focus on another importantarea in these next few months and the upcoming year and that is the Latino vote,” said NCLR President Janet Murguía. “Next time we march lets march straight to the polls and vote.”

(As published in Hispanic Link Weekly Report on Oct. 1, 2007)