Posted on September 19, 2003

Civil Society

According to Trends in Naturalization (8 pages, PDF), a new study from the Urban Institute, some 7.9 million legal immigrants were eligible for U.S. citizenship as of 2002, with another 2.7 million expected to be eligible by 2007. The study, which is based on data from the 2000 U.S. Census and the 2002 Current Population Survey, examines changes in the number of naturalized citizens and the rate of naturalization, as well as the characteristics of immigrants who are eligible to naturalize, or will be soon. Among its findings, the study found that 28 percent of eligible immigrants are Mexican, while 27 percent are Asian, and that one-third of all eligible individuals reside in California, with another 40 percent living in New York, Texas, Florida, Illinois, and New Jersey.