Insights and Analyses

• In 2022, about 1.2 million Latino immigrants, 290,000 Filipino immigrants, 262,000 Chinese immigrants, 186,000 Vietnamese immigrants, 165,000 Indian immigrants, and 98,000 Korean immigrants were registered to vote in California.

• Black, Filipino, Indian, Latino, Other Southeast Asian, Pacific Islander, Portuguese, and Vietnamese immigrants had higher voter turnout rates in the 2020 election compared to their U.S.-born counterparts.

• Among most racial groups, women had slightly higher voter turnout rates than males in the 2020 election. For example, among registered Arab voters, Arab females had a 77% voter turnout rate, compared to 73% turnout amongst Arab males.

• Italian voters, regardless of nativity, and U.S.-born Japanese voters were among the groups with the highest voter turnout rate in 2020. These two groups have larger percentages of native-born individuals than other immigrant populations. Moreover, Italians’ immigrant population is substantially smaller and many Japanese Americans are long settled in the state.

• In FY 2024, 818,500 immigrants became naturalized citizens across the country—a 7% decrease from the previous year. California was home to the highest proportion of immigrants who naturalized in FY 2024 at 18.4% and Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim was the third highest metro area where naturalized citizens lived.

• Naturalization backlogs have existed within USCIS in the past, however, increases during the early part of the first Trump administration reduced access to citizenship by building a “second wall” to prevent and discourage naturalization. This “second wall” combined with a pandemic-era halt in both interviews and oath ceremonies for immigrants waiting to naturalize greatly exacerbated the issue. Boundless estimated that nearly 300,000 immigrants were likely unable to naturalize in time to gain voting eligibility for the 2020 election due to the closures of naturalization services.

• In 2025, the second Trump administration implemented more policies, creating additional barriers to naturalization, and thus the ability to vote. For example, while family-based immigration is one of the main pathways toward obtaining permanent residency and eventually citizenship, policy changes issued in August 2025 will make it more challenging for those applying for a green card by not issuing warnings for missing documentation or issuing a “Notice to Appear,” leading to possibly more denials for applicants and possible deportation. The new administration’s policy also includes stricter vetting measures for all immigrants seeking to naturalize, including allowing USCIS the discretion to conduct neighborhood checks on all applicants, a closer review of disability exceptions, and an expanded definition of “good moral character”.  In addition, those filing for immigration on or after October 20, 2025, will be required to take a more challenging new 2025 civics test.

• In Quarter 2 of 2025, the naturalization backlog was only about 5.5 months, at one of its lowest rates and down from the 9-to 12-month wait during 2020-2022. Additionally, approval rates remained steady at 91.1%, although overall applications decreased from the previous year. At the same time, according to a report from Boundless, USCIS completed fewer cases overall and is seeing a record level of backlogs for other types of status changes as well as a large number of unopened immigration cases in 2025. For comparison in fiscal year 2023, USCIS reduced their backlog by 15% for the first time in a decade.

• Providing in-language election materials and expanding access to information can help many LEP voters overcome a variety of barriers to cast their ballots. Across the U.S., California has the highest share of households speaking languages other than English at home; however, advocates have continued to push for state and local governments to expand the translation of ballots and voter information to more languages, such as Somali and possibly other Middle Eastern and North African languages, as many are left lacking guaranteed voter assistance.  Advocates recently proposed legislation (AB 884) to  expand access to more voters who do not speak English fluently, however, it was vetoed by the Governor in 2024.

Since 2011, Dream Summer has connected immigrant youth and allies to over 1,000 fellowship opportunities with 265 organizations across the country, training the next generation of social justice leaders to defend immigrant and underrepresented communities.

Founded by the UCLA Dream Resource Center (DRC), a project of the UCLA Labor Center, the Dream Summer fellowship program has awarded more than $1 million to fellows, placing them in social justice organizations to empower immigrant youth and allies, create a safe and healing space, and promote an intersectional approach to issues affecting immigrant communities. While focusing on immigrant rights issues, fellows also lead on the additional issues that intersect with immigrant experiences — including barriers to equity for LGBTQ+, Asian and Pacific Islander, and Black communities; the incarceration and criminalization of communities of color; labor rights; and health care access for all.

Through the Dream Summer fellowship, participants receive a $7,000 stipend, leadership and professional training, and membership into the DRC Alumni Network. In addition, Dream Summer alumni are now leading the fellowship as coordinators, bringing forth their experiences to strengthen the program. To learn more about the Dream Summer fellowship, visit their site here.

Photo credit: Dream Resource Center

The Immigrant Parent Voting Ordinance in San Francisco City is an exemplary model for allowing undocumented parents and guardians to engage civically by voting in local school board elections.

Proposition N, passed in 2016, sets San Francisco apart as the first city in the state that allows non-citizens to vote in local school board elections. In 2021, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors approved the Immigrant Parent Voting Ordinance to make this right permanent, and also expanded it to allow non-citizens to also vote in school board recall elections. Despite a conservative challenge that temporarily struck down the ordinance in 2022, the ordinance was reinstated on appeal in 2023. Although non-citizen voting (NCV) is not a new concept, few cities across the nation have implemented NCV to the extent that San Francisco has by allowing all residents with children under the age of 19 – regardless of legal status – to participate. Speaking to the importance of the incorporation of immigrant voices in the community and protection of voting rights, Chinese for Affirmative Action (CAA)’s immigrant rights coordinator, Olivia Zheng, stated: “By extending the right to vote to noncitizens, San Francisco has led the way in expanding access to democracy and promoting immigrant inclusion. In the face of attacks on voting rights across the country, it is crucial to continue defending the right for immigrants to fully participate in and shape their communities.”

Led by CAA, the multi-racial Immigrant Parent Voting Collaborative (IPVC) coalition has provided trainings, workshops, and brochures to non-citizen voters on their rights and possible risks associated with voting. Leading up to the 2018 elections, IPVC worked with the San Francisco Department of Elections to safeguard the privacy of undocumented voters by including a notice on the ballot around voting risks, creating separate ballots and rosters tailored to non-citizen voters, and training poll workers. In 2023, IPVC released a report detailing how the advocacy for non-citizen voting prevailed in San Francisco – and how conservative opposition still poses a threat to this right in the Bay Area and beyond. 

In California, this concept is gaining traction in other municipalities. In Oakland, voters approved a measure in 2022 to allow noncitizen parents and guardians of public school students to vote for school board directors – but are still waiting for implementation by the City Council. San Jose also briefly considered a proposal in 2022 to extend voting rights in all local elections to all residents. In the November 2024 election, the city of Santa Ana voted on ballot Measure DD, which would have allowed non-citizens to vote in local city elections. Immigrant rights organizations across the city stressed the importance of a city as diverse as Santa Ana to give all residents a say in local representation. However, Measure DD was rejected by 60% of the voters in Santa Ana. 

Non-citizen voting has continued to be an up-hill battle, with the reintroduction of the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act in the U.S. House of Representatives. If passed, the SAVE Act would require all voters to prove their citizenship in person when registering to vote. Read the American Progress article on how this will impact American-born individuals, such as married women who changed their last name. Researchers have been studying immigrant voting rights and its benefits in the U.S. and around the globe for decades. To learn more, read Ron Hayduk and Kathleen Coll’s article Urban Citizenship: Campaigns to Restore Immigrant Voting Rights in the US.

To learn more about the organizations involved in expanding civic participation in SF, read here. To learn more about the history of non-citizen voting, read here.

Photo credit: Chinese for Affirmative Action