INS flooded by applications for citizenship

Estela Riccio has lived in the United States for more than three decades, but it was after Sept. 11 that she finally decided to become a citizen.

"That day I realized this is my country," said Riccio, an Argentine woman who lives in Houston and submitted her citizenship application two weeks ago. "It's like they did something to me that day. I realized I am an American."

A mixture of patriotism and insecurity has spurred many immigrants to do the same since the attacks, immigration attorneys and advocates say. Between September and December, the Immigration and Naturalization Service received 260,770 applications for citizenship -- a 52 percent increase from the same period the year before.

INS spokeswoman Eyleen Schmidt said the surge may also be partly driven by a jump in application and fingerprinting fees -- from $250 to $310 -- that takes effect Tuesday.

Many immigrants are seeking the protection of citizenship because they feel vulnerable in the face of the terror investigations and other government actions that followed the attacks.

"Before Sept. 11, I wasn't thinking about it, but after Sept. 11, I got scared and I said, 'Let's get it over before any new policy comes in,'" said Eddie, a Palestinian businessman in Detroit who has a green card. He declined to give his full name for fear that his comments could jeopardize his application.

"I've been here almost six years and I never had a problem. I'm like everybody else, working, paying taxes, raising a family," said Eddie, the father of three, ages 1 to 5.

Becoming a citizen would allow him to vote, and to no longer worry that "one day they're going to pick me up and leave my kids with no father."

Mo Abdrabboh, an attorney in Dearborn, Mich., said there's been a spike in people asking about citizenship eligibility since Sept. 11. Many Arabs feel as if "they're under a microscope" and fear being deported or detained, he said.

In Houston, attorneys at the Texas Center for Immigrant Legal Assistance have seen a 25 percent increase in the number of people interested in applying for citizenship since the attacks, said supervising attorney Wafa Abdin.

The INS does not have information on the ethnicity of those who applied for citizenship between September and December, but immigration attorneys and advocates say immigrants of all backgrounds have shown a greater interest.

On a recent afternoon, Eric Gonzalez waited behind about 40 others at the San Francisco INS office to get more information on how to apply for citizenship.

Gonzalez, who came to the United States from Guatemala about 20 years ago, said he has been content to hold a green card as a legal permanent resident until now.

"I've been a little bit of a procrastinator," he said. But after the terrorist attacks, he believes "the laws are going to get tougher. You feel more secure if you're a citizen."

Protecting, gaining rights

That's a natural reaction, said Cecilia Munoz, vice president of the National Council of La Raza, a Hispanic advocacy group. People delay applying for citizenship for various reasons, from the cost of fees to love of their home nation.

But "when immigrant people really feel their rights are jeopardized, they file for naturalization as a way of protecting their rights" and gaining new ones, like voting, she said.

That's one thing that Riccio, a shipping manager at a Houston gift shop, is hoping to do by becoming a citizen.

"This is home," Riccio, 53, said of the United States. "I want to be part of everything, the good and the bad that's going to come."