18,000 are sworn in as citizens
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Record crowds of immigrants — more than 18,000 in all — took citizenship oaths here Thursday, a showing credited to rising fees, a heated debate over illegal immigration and one of the brand-new Americans raising their hands.
In becoming a citizen, radio host Eduardo “Piolin” Sotelo was taking the advice he has frequently dispensed on the nation’s most popular Spanish-language radio show.
Sotelo, who came to the country from Mexico illegally 22 years ago in a car trunk, chronicled his own citizenship process as he urged fellow Hispanics to seek citizenship at a time when immigration is still a hot-button issue and a presidential election is underway.
The need for three separate ceremonies at the Los Angeles Convention Center — a local record for the number of people sworn in one day — reflected a 350 percent increase in citizenship applications last summer before immigration fees jumped from $400 to $675 on Aug. 1.
Sotelo went from collecting cans to working in radio but got fired because he was an illegal immigrant. He later got a work permit in Sacramento, where his radio career began to take off.
New citizens hailed from some 100 countries, with the largest number, 7,770, from Mexico, followed by 1,882 from El Salvador and 1,477 from the Philippines.
The government administered 468,878 oaths of citizenship in the U.S. from Oct. 1 through April 30, up 35 percent from 348,591 during the same period a year earlier, said Chris Rhatigan, a spokeswoman for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
Immigration officials could not immediately say if the number of new citizens set a record nationally. Miami has five ceremonies scheduled over two days next week to administer 15,000 oaths at the Miami Beach Convention Center.
Voting is a key reason people of all nationalities choose to become citizens, said immigration officials, who had set up voter registration tables inside the ceremony hall as well as a passport application and photo area.