Changing People’s Lives by Helping Them Access Citizenship and a Permanent Place in this Country

When longtime residents naturalize as U.S. Citizens, it’s a victory for them and their families.

When Maria del Rosario Garcia passed her Citizenship exam, she immediately went home to tell her husband and daughters.

“I came home very excited and told my husband ‘I am excited, Pepe, I am excited!'” she shared at her U.S. Citizenship Program graduation ceremony earlier this year. “I felt very happy with my children, I felt very proud of Erika, the oldest, because my daughters were the ones that cheered me on, ‘You can do it, mom, you can do it, you'll see that you will.' And they were the ones that pushed me, that encouraged me to keep going.”

When a longtime resident becomes a U.S. Citizen, the whole family shares in the achievement. Most longtime immigrants have children who are U.S. citizens. When they achieve U.S. citizenship themselves, their family is no longer at risk of being separated by U.S. immigration law.

Maria del Rosario Garcia shares how she felt becoming a new Citizen at LUPE's Citizenship Opportunity Program graduation ceremony this year.

Citizenship is an accomplishment that nothing can take away from those who achieve it. But the Trump Administration is closing more and more legal avenues to immigrate to this country.

U.S. Citizenship is a powerful way that those who qualify can defend the life they have built in their adoptive home. That is why LUPE's U.S. Citizenship Opportunity Program assists immigrants that are ready to make a deeper commitment to the United States as their home.

Support us as we help new citizens to become eligible to vote in the upcoming presidential elections. Donate to LUPE today.

This country is known around the world as a land of opportunity, and immigrants contribute to that reputation and to our success. Despite their contribution, many long-term legal residents perceive that they cannot fully participate in public life due to their non-citizenship.

Through LUPE's U.S. Citizenship Opportunity program, immigrant community members overcome this barrier and are able to participate more fully in the democratic decision-making process of their adoptive country.

Support our efforts to help long-time residents access U.S. Citizenship. Donate to LUPE today.