According to the Office of Immigration Statistics,there are about 8 million legal permanent residents in our nation who areeligible to naturalize and about half of these are Latino.
U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-Evanston, Illinois) joined Senator Obama, U.S. Representative Luis Gutierrez (D-Chicago, Illinois), and immigration advocates in announcing the bill's introduction.
Additionally, 3 Latino lawmakers from New York held a press conference today on the steps of City Hall in Manhattan urging Hillary Clinton and others to support The bill. The lawmakers include: City Councilman Hiram Monserrate, Assemblyman Jose Peralta and City Councilman Miguel Martinez--all from New York City.
The National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) Educational Fund issued a statement in regards to the bill that said:
The NALEO Educational Fund strongly supports the Citizenship Promotion Act of 2007 ("CPA"), introduced today by U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) and U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), because it would remove many of the obstacles in the path of legal permanent residents who are eager to become full Americans. This legislation would enhance our national security by providing for greater accountability in the background checks that are conducted on applicants for U.S. citizenship. The CPA also would establish a national program to promote U.S. citizenship and help community organizations provide a wide range of naturalization education, outreach and assistance services to our nation's newcomers.The bill's original co-sponsors include: U.S. Senators Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Ken Salazar (D-CO), and Jeff Bingaman (D-NM); and U.S. Reps. Neil Abercrombie (D-HI), Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), Mike Honda (D- CA), Ed Pastor (D-AZ), Janice Schakowsky (D-IL), and Hilda Solis (D-CA).
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