Pathways to Citizenship Help Everyone
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Nationwide, more than 11 million undocumented immigrants lack a pathway to citizenship. Their potential is often unrealized, as undocumented immigrants struggle to attain work authorization, pursue education, and access basic services like health care. Your support helps ensure that immigrants have legal footing today and a place in our communities for years to come.
Pathways to Citizenship Offer Security, Stability, and Growth
Developing a pathway to citizenship means that immigrants without documentation have access to a legal process to change their immigration status and/or obtain lawful permanent resident status. These first steps eventually prepare immigrants to apply for U.S. citizenship, or naturalization. Most Americans recognize the contributions immigrants make and a large majority support pathways to citizenship.
Pathways to citizenship provide safety, security, and stability for immigrant and refugee families and would create an estimated $1.7 trillion in economic growth and create nearly 440,000 jobs over the next decade. Approximately 5 million undocumented immigrants are classified as essential workers nationally, and a pathway to citizenship would help secure their futures in the United States.
Despite these significant contributions, millions of immigrant families have at least one undocumented family member, causing them to live in fear of immigration enforcement and deportation. When a family member faces deportation, their children often bear the brunt of family separation and economic, housing, and food insecurity.
Low-Cost Legal Services Bridge Critical Gaps
In many cases, undocumented immigrants are already eligible for existing pathways to citizenship but are unable to access them because they lack funding, nearby services, and/or information about eligibility. In Oregon alone, up to 1-in-3 undocumented Oregonians are eligible for protection but simply lack access to legal assistance. In addition, more than 80,000 green card holders in Oregon are eligible to apply.
ICS’s legal services and citizenship clinics help get our clients understand their options, make informed choices for their families, and get on the right track to citizenship if possible. These services are an important step toward creating safety and stability for immigrant families and recognizing the immense contributions immigrants make to Oregon.
How Citizenship Changes Lives
When we think of immigrants who have enriched their communities and worked hard to attain citizenship, we think of our clients. Clients like Jorge and Armando, who—like dozens of ICS clients each year—have received green cards and achieved naturalization through life-changing legal assistance. These clients have long journeys to this final milestone, with some taking years or decades to receive citizenship; Armando and his wife have been ICS clients since 2013.
After earning citizenship earlier this year, Jorge has enjoyed running his flourishing small business and enjoying the stability that comes with citizenship. “Thank you very much for all your support and help,” Jorge told the ICS team when he received his citizenship. “Without you, it wouldn’t be possible. Thank you all very much.”
Take action today by supporting ICS’s legal services that provide immigrants with work authorization, support their journeys toward citizenship, and support their local communities.