SF celebrates National Citizenship Day, honors over 14,000 who've been naturalized in 12 years
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Over 14,000 people have become U.S. citizens in San Francisco in the last 12 years.
"To each new citizen here today: you make this city stronger. And to all our partners who work on pathways to citizenship, thank you," said San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie.
On the steps of city hall, many celebrated National Citizenship Day on Wednesday, where Lurie reaffirmed this sanctuary city's commitment to the immigrant community.
"San Francisco is a city that welcomes immigrants," Lurie said.
In the crowd, we met Aurelia Ramirez, who became a U.S. citizen in May after entering the US from Mexico 23 years ago. Ramirez said her journey was difficult. She was granted a U-visa in 2015 after being a victim of domestic violence, then was granted a green and finally became naturalized.
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"Seeing what is going on, 'specially with these problems about ICE, I don't feel safety. But the good thing is that I'm a citizen," Ramirez said.
Every year, San Francisco allocates $600,000 towards the citizenship program, making the 10 workshops a year a reality.
"We have come together and do over 100 workshops since 2013 -- when we first started -- and help green card holders to become U.S. citizens," said Anni Chung, president and CEO of Self-Help for the Elderly.
Jorge Rivas, the city's director of the Office of Civic Engagement and Immigrant Affairs has noticed an uptick in people attending citizenship workshops. Their office is also helping with legal aid.
"If you have questions about whether you qualify, or if you have a complicated history, we can help you. If you come to one of our workshops, we'll work with you and try to assign you an attorney or one of our community partners, so they can look at your case," Rivas said.
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Throughout the years, the citizenship application cost has gone up, now costing $725.
The test is also set to change. On Wednesday, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced the civics test that is 100 questions will go up to 128. Applicants will need to answer 20 instead of 10 questions -- changes that could lead to fewer people taking the test.
"Now they are saying, 'We want to investigate to see whether or not somebody actually understands the principles of being a U.S. citizen.' 'We might want to go to their neighborhood and find out more about the person,'" said Bill Hing, Professor of Law and Migration Studies at the University of San Francisco.
According to immigration experts the citizenship application process is now taking longer for many applications that used to take 6 months they say are now taking 18 months.
"Everything is backlogged right now," Hing said.
