The New York Times published a piece on Monday detailing how “new citizens” are eager to vote in the upcoming election, praising that a reduction in the wait time for applications to be processed means the electorate is being reshaped before a “pivotal election.”
“The surge in naturalization efficiency isn’t just about clearing backlogs; it’s potentially reshaping the electorate, merely months before a pivotal election,” Boundless Chief Executive Xiao Wang told The Times. “Every citizenship application could be a vote that decides Senate seats or even the presidency.”
Boundless is “a company that uses government data to analyze immigration trends and that offers services to immigrants who seek professional help in navigating the application process,” according to The Times.
While the article doesn’t explicitly state whether the aforementioned individuals being processed came to the United States legally or illegally, the article acknowledges that, although “naturalizing lawful residents [has] had broad bipartisan support,” “there has long been partisan disagreement over how to tackle illegal immigration and overhaul the nation’s immigration laws.”
“Citizenship has become more politicized in recent years,” the article claims.
While not all asylum seekers enter the country illegally, individuals who enter the country illegally are still permitted to later apply for asylum. All asylees are eligible to apply for permanent resident status one year after receiving the grant, and individuals with permanent resident status are then eventually eligible for citizenship.
The Times article laments how the Trump administration, “[i]ntent on curbing legal immigration,” “conducted lengthier reviews of naturalization applications,” and how “[t]he processing time roughly doubled to about 10 months during Mr. Trump’s tenure.”
“The bottleneck prevented some 300,000 prospective citizens from naturalizing in time to vote in the 2020 election, according to estimates by Boundless,” The Times decried, before explaining that there are approximately nine million green-card holders who are eligible for citizenship, many of which have “historically leaned Democratic.”
One of the four states with “the largest number of immigrants who qualify for citizenship” includes Florida — a traditionally red state whose electoral votes make the state a must-win for Republicans. Florida has more registered Republicans than it does Democrats by a margin of more than 1 million, according to Orlando Sentinel.
There are an estimated 772,000 illegal immigrants currently residing in Florida, according to the Migration Policy Institute.
“We know our immigration system is broken, and we know what it takes to fix it. Comprehensive reform that includes strong border security and an earned pathway to citizenship,” Vice President Kamala Harris said at a recent campaign event.
If Democrats want to earn additional votes, they must give an entire electorate the ability to earn citizenship — and they know it.
