El ‘efecto Trump’

Trump is inspiring lots of resident aliens to become citizens -- so they can vote against him.

Julia Preston reports at The New York Times:

Over all, naturalization applications increased by 11 percent in the 2015 fiscal year over the year before, and jumped 14 percent during the six months ending in January, according to federal figures. The pace is picking up by the week, advocates say, and they estimate applications could approach one million in 2016, about 200,000 more than the average in recent years.

While naturalizations generally rise during presidential election years, Mr. Trump provided an extra boost this year. He began his campaign in June describing Mexicans as drug-traffickers and rapists. His pledge to build a border wall and make Mexico pay for it has been a regular applause line. He has vowed to create a deportation force to expel the estimated 11 million immigrants here illegally, evoking mass roundups of the 1950s.

Kyung Lah and Alberto Moya report at CNN:

When Donald Trump speaks at one of his rallies, Gisell Broch physically reacts. She cringes.

"He's like a punch to the gut."

That punch is so palpable that it's shaken the Cuba native out of a 22-year contentment at simply holding her green card. Thanks to Trump, she's seeking her U.S. citizenship in time to vote against him in November.

"He's a racist," said Broch, from her front row seat at a naturalization information session in Homestead, Florida. When Broch files her paperwork, she expects she'll vote for "anyone but Trump" as her first vote as a U.S. citizen.

Dianne Solis reports at The Dallas Morning News:

Presidential candidate Donald Trump wants to build a huge wall along the Mexican border.

Mexican immigrants Lilia García and Antonino Reyes want to build one around themselves.

Last weekend García and Reyes joined a growing surge of legal permanent residents in Dallas and elsewhere inspired to seek U.S. citizenship in an effort to defend themselves against the leading Republican candidate.

Call it “efecto Trump,” the Trump effect.

“I want to vote now,” says García, a 52-year-old native of Irapuato. “It will be easier to get my rights, and I want to show solidarity with the people who still need documents.”
Reyes, who is 84, fingers yellowed Mexican documents that look fragile like leaves and explain life passages like birth, marriage and entry into the U.S. Reyes wants to vote,

Jean Guerrero reports at PRI:

It has been nearly half a century since Concepción Álvarez, a 75-year-old Mexican immigrant who lives in Vista, California, became eligible for US citizenship. But it wasn’t until this year that she decided to dive into the naturalization process. The reason? She points to Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump.

“I think we are all waking up, because we’ve never heard things so ugly as what that man says,” Álvarez says.

Álvarez is among a rising number of Latino immigrants rushing to become citizens so they can vote in the 2016 presidential elections. Many say they are spurred by fear of Trump, who has proposed deporting millions of immigrants and building a 2,000-mile wall between the United States and Mexico.