Indicator
Naturalization:
Citizenship is an avenue through which immigrants can obtain better employment opportunities and become more civically engaged.
Each indicator page features a series of charts, insights and analysis, case studies, resources, and related indicators.
Insights and Analyses
Naturalization is an avenue through which immigrants can participate in civic and electoral processes. Across California, the naturalization rate for all eligible-to-naturalize adults was nearly 73% in 2021.
Throughout the state, as of 2021, over 2.1 million immigrant adults were eligible-to-naturalize but have not done so.
Application fees, access to legal assistance, language access, and backlogs in applications create barriers to naturalization for immigrants. Additionally, language, education, gender, and family structure, such as having an undocumented family member, impact the probability of naturalization. In California, Latinos and Asian Americans comprise a large share of those that are eligible-to-naturalize but have not done so. As of 2019, nearly 1.3 million Latinos and around 492,000 Asian Americans were eligible to naturalize.
Application fees, access to legal assistance, language access, and backlogs in applications create barriers to naturalization for immigrants. Factors like language, education, gender, and mixed-status family structure also impact the probability of naturalization. In California, Latinos and Asian Americans comprise a large share of those that are eligible-to-naturalize but have not done so – as of 2021, about 1.27 million Latinos and almost 480,000 Asian Americans were eligible-to-naturalize.
According to DHS’s annual report, the backlog of naturalization applications as of mid-2023 continued to pose challenges for USCIS, as the agency attempted to adopt measures to speed up its ability to process cases. The agency has a long history of backlogs, including an uptick that occurred under the Trump administration due to proposed changes that impacted marginalized communities, its focus on denaturalization, and building a “second wall” to prevent and discourage naturalization. USCIS did complete 10 million cases in fiscal year 2023, and thus reduced their backlog by 15% for the first time in a decade. However, data from USCIS still showed a backlog of about 400,000 naturalization applications and about 9 million total pending applications (including naturalization and other adjustments in status).
A report assessing the impact of immigration fees on naturalization found that lowering the cost of naturalization for applicants is linked to increases in the rate of naturalization. Naturalization benefits individuals and the U.S. as a whole, as it tends to improve incomes for immigrants, enhance their civic participation, and result in U.S. GDP growth. However, the USCIS did enact a major fee hike in 2024 for the first time in eight years.
According to a 2024 ERI analysis of the naturalized eligible voter population, almost 1.3 million adults have naturalized in California since 2015, comprising close to a quarter (23 percent) of the over 5.7 million naturalized eligible voters in the state. Asian American and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) and Latino new citizens made up the largest proportions of the recently naturalized, 40 and 39 percent respectively. The analysis demonstrates the potential impact that recently naturalized citizens can have on elections, especially in close races.
Reducing barriers to naturalization and expanding voter mobilization efforts is key, as citizenship is one avenue through which immigrant families can become more protected and exercise their voting rights.
Despite a 2019 report by the National Partnership for New Americans (NPNA) and the 2021 State of New American Citizenship Report by Boundless finding that USCIS backlogs and the COVID-19 pandemic slowed naturalization, a 2022 report from NPNA, SEIU, the US Immigration Policy Center, and Asian and Pacific Islander American Vote found that over 5 million people were still able to naturalize between FY 2016 and FY 2021 – and that within important swing states, newly naturalized citizens’ numbers were greater than the margins of 2020 presidential and Senate elections. The report argued that voter mobilization efforts specifically targeted at newly naturalized citizens would be important to get their votes heard – and following their own advice after another wave of naturalization, NPNA partnered with the League of Women Voters Education Fund to start the Naturalize NOW! campaign to focus on 2024 by uplifting the stories and perspectives of naturalized voters. In June 2024, the campaign released the results of what they term as the “first-ever multi-state national survey of naturalized voters” – finding that surveyed voters were enthusiastic to vote in 2024, highly engaged with current elections and issues, and wanted to see immigration reforms to make it easier and more efficient for immigrants to seek asylum and have pathways to citizenship.
In addition to being an important voting bloc, those who can naturalize can often attain higher wages and better employment opportunities. However, there are multiple factors that impact naturalization rates, including language, education, gender, and family structures. In Paths to Citizenship, USC Equity Research (formerly CSII) analyzed the factors that influence naturalization rates among those eligible to naturalize – including individual characteristics like income and access to the naturalization process, and contextual factors like the baseline receptivity of jurisdictions to immigrant communities. One organization providing comprehensive services to those who are less likely to naturalize is Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Southern California, who for over 30 years have provided free and multilingual citizenship services in Los Angeles and Orange Counties. These services include application support, legal representation, and helplines in eight Asian languages. In partnership with national networks, the organization also provides comprehensive training and support for citizenship services catered to the Asian American community. To learn more by accessing ERI’s updated interactive maps on eligible-to-naturalize adults in the U.S., click here.
Photo credit: Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Southern California
Threats to terminate the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designation without providing a pathway to citizenship creates a cycle of instability that affects an estimated 213,000 people in California that are either themselves TPS holders or live with a family member who is.
TPS was first created under the Immigration Act of 1990, and is granted to country nationals or individuals that previously resided in a country deemed unsafe to return to because of ongoing armed conflict, environmental disaster, an epidemic, or “other extraordinary and temporary conditions”. While those granted TPS status can legally reside and work in the United States, TPS does not provide pathways to lawful permanent resident status, and can be limited to as little as 18 months in some cases. According to ERI estimates based on 2021 5-year American Community Survey microdata from IPUMS USA, there are approximately 64,500 Temporary Protected Status (TPS) recipients in California. Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) is a similar temporary status that allows recipients to live and work in the U.S., but that status must be authorized by the president.
As of July 2024, the countries with TPS designations are Afghanistan, Cameroon, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Haiti, Honduras, Myanmar, Nepal, Nicaragua, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, Venezuela, and Yemen. Individuals from Liberia, Hong Kong, and Palestine can access DED status as of July 2024. In 2022, thirty-three U.S. Senators urged the Biden Administration to include Guatemala as a TPS country in light of recent environmental crises, but the country has still never received TPS designation. Although TPS was extended and expanded for immigrants from Haiti in June 2024, immigration enforcement operations against Haitian migrants have shown light on the persecution Black migrants face when attempting to seek safety in the U.S.
Once U.S. officials decide that conditions in TPS- and DED-designated countries are “safe,” immigrants lose their status with an expectation to leave the U.S. The possible termination and temporary nature of these statuses creates a sense of instability, or ‘liminal legality,’ a term coined by sociologist Dr. Cecilia Menjivar. More than 300,000 TPS holders from four countries were recently in this limbo for years – the Trump Administration rescinded their TPS status in 2017, which was temporarily restored by legal challenges in 2018, and which only was officially extended by the Biden Administration in 2023. This reality was, unfortunately, not avoided for residents of Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, who had their TPS designations rescinded in 2017 (although Liberia has since gained DED status). The temporary nature of these statuses and subsequent termination efforts adversely affect not only TPS and DED holders – individuals with rooted U.S. social, familial, and economic ties – but also the households and broader communities that they live in. Providing a path to legal permanent residency for individuals with TPS and DED is an important first step toward providing stability and potential U.S. citizenship for these immigrants. Read more about TPS, TPS country-designations, and policy proposals at the National TPS Alliance’s site. For updates on TPS and DED litigation, read here.
Data Source: These numbers were calculated using the 2021 5-year American Community Survey (ACS) microdata from IPUMS. For more information on the methodology, refer to the methodological appendix in this report.
Photo credit: National TPS Alliance
Resources
Organizations:
Reports:
Articles:
Immigrants are Suing the U.S. Government Over Delays in Citizenship Process
USCIS Promotes Naturalization With Nearly Two Dozen New Fact Sheets
Coronavirus Shutdowns Could Put 2020 Voting Out of Reach for Hundreds of Thousands of New Americans
In the COVID-19 Era, They Became U.S. Citizens in a Drive-Through
Data:
