The Migration Policy Institute Report on Naturalization Trends

The Migration Policy Institute has a fascinating article on naturalization trends in advance of the 2008 elections.  Among the findings:

There were nearly 15.2 million naturalized citizens eligible to vote in the United States in 2006.

Hispanics accounted for almost a third of all naturalized citizens.

In California, 19 percent of citizens age 18 and older were foreign born.

A July 2002 executive order made noncitizen members of the armed forces eligible for expedited US citizenship.

Asian and European immigrants have the highest naturalization rates while Mexican immigrants have one of the lowest.

More than 700,000 lawful permanent residents became US citizens in 2006.

In 2006, US Citizenship and Immigration Services denied 120,722 naturalization petitions.

Between 1997 and 2006, over 6.3 million people became naturalized citizens, more than one-and-a-half times the 3.8 million who naturalized between 1987 and 1996.

The increased number of naturalizations since 1994 is partly a result of the legalization of unauthorized immigrants under the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA).

In 2006, foreign born from Mexico, the Philippines, and India accounted for almost a quarter of all naturalizations.

Almost half of those who naturalized in 2006 lived in three states: California, New York, and Florida. The state with the fewest naturalizations in 2006 was Wyoming.

Of the 84,000 Mexican foreign born naturalized in 2006, the largest groups resided in California, Texas, and Illinois.

The New York, Los Angeles, and Miami metropolitan areas were home to more than one-third of new US citizens.

In 2004, an estimated 8 million lawful permanent residents were eligible for naturalization.

For immigrants who naturalized in 2006, the median time between date of legal immigration to the United States and date of naturalization was seven years.

KJ