Ophævelse af barrierer for statsborgerskab for indvandrere med lav indkomst

At aflægge troskabsed ved en naturalisationsceremoni er et følelsesladet øjeblik for mange immigranter, og med god grund:det er kulminationen på en ofte besværlig proces og mange års stræben. Medborgerskab åbner også et nyt kapitel præget af mulighed, fra bedre jobmuligheder til fuld deltagelse i samfundslivet.

Men for mange immigranter, der ønsker at blive amerikanske statsborgere, det øjeblik kommer aldrig. Siden 1970'erne, Naturaliseringsraterne i USA er haltet bagud i forhold til andre større værtslande. Det er en slående forskel, da det store flertal af immigranter i USA udtrykker interesse for statsborgerskab. Og da det at få statsborgerskab ofte øger indvandrernes sociale mobilitet og integration, det faktum, at så mange er efterladt, tyder på et bekymrende tab af solidaritet for deres værtssamfund.

Hvad holder dem tilbage? Hvorfor er nogle indvandrere mere tilbøjelige end andre til at gennemføre naturaliseringsprocessen?

Ny forskning fra Stanford Universitys Immigration Policy Lab, i samarbejde med forskere ved George Mason University og Rockefeller College of Public Affairs &Policy ved University at Albany, giver det første konkrete bevis på en stor barriere for statsborgerskab for indvandrere med lav indkomst. Resultaterne hjælper med at forklare, hvorfor indsatsen til fremme af medborgerskab står over for betydelige udfordringer, og de giver en plan for løsninger, der sikrer, at alle immigranter har lige adgang til statsborgerskab og dets fordele.

Et livsændrende program

Ved at søge at forstå forskelle i naturaliseringsmønstre, tidligere undersøgelser har fokuseret på indvandrerne selv – individuelle egenskaber som sprogfærdigheder, ressourcer, eller oprindelsesland. Her, forskerne betragtede en ekstern faktor uden for immigranternes kontrol:de høje omkostninger ved ansøgningsprocessen om statsborgerskab.

For mange lavindkomstindvandrere, prisskiltet er skræmmende:$725 bare for at indgive ansøgningen, plus hundreder eller endda tusinder mere, hvis du har brug for engelskundervisning eller konsultationer med immigrationsadvokater. Velgørende organisationer er gået op for at tilbyde gratis sprogundervisning, juridisk rådgivning, og hjælpe med at navigere i papirarbejdet. Men ansøgningsgebyret er kun blevet mere belastende, steget med 800 procent i reale termer siden 1985, da det var $35 (eller $80,25 i dagens dollars). Den føderale regering tilbyder en gebyrfritagelse for de fattigste indvandrere – dem med indkomster under 150 % af fattigdomsgrænsen – men for mange andre, der ikke er nødlidende, men kæmper for at klare sig, det gebyr alene kan sætte statsborgerskab uden for rækkevidde.

For at imødegå denne potentielt afgørende økonomiske hindring, IPL slog sig sammen med New York State Office for New Americans (ONA) og to finansierere dedikeret til at forbedre livet for sårbare newyorkere, Robin Hood, og New York Community Trust. Sammen udviklede de en innovativ, offentligt-privat program kaldet NaturalizeNY, som giver indvandrere med lav indkomst mulighed for at vinde en kupon, der dækker indfødsrets ansøgningsgebyret.

Veyom Bahl, administrerende direktør hos Robin Hood, sagde, "Robin Hood er stolt af at samarbejde med verdensklasseforskere ved Stanford Immigration Policy Lab. Ligesom os, de er forpligtet til at hjælpe immigrantfamilier med at bygge et stærkt grundlag for et nyt liv i USA. Denne forskning vil hjælpe fonde, lokalsamfundsbaserede organisationer, og både politiske beslutningstagere genovervejer, hvordan vi investerer i vores lokalsamfund for at opnå maksimal effekt."

NaturalizeNY forbinder også registranter med ansøgningsassistance fra ONAs netværk af nonprofit-tjenesteudbydere. New Yorks førende immigrantserviceorganisationer, inklusive CUNY Citizenship Now!, Hispanic Federation, og katolske velgørenhedsorganisationer, var også integreret i at fremme og implementere programmet.

"Dette var et virkelig første-af-en- slags program, hvor en statslig myndighed, filantropier, akademikere, og nonprofitorganisationer skabte en måde at yde direkte økonomisk støtte for at hjælpe lavindkomstimmigranter med at ansøge om statsborgerskab. Immigration Policy Lab var begejstret for at deltage i dets design og evaluering, så alle involverede kunne forstå dets indvirkning på immigranter og New York-samfundet, " sagde Michael Hotard, en IPL-programleder.

New York er hjemsted for landets næststørste immigrantbefolkning, og dets metroområde har omkring 160, 000 indvandrere med lav indkomst, der er berettiget til statsborgerskab. Med et registreringswebsted på syv sprog, NaturalizeNY fokuserede på relativt fattige New Yorkere, som by virtue of income or lack of eligibility for government benefits like food stamps or cash assistance, did not qualify for the existing federal fee waiver program.

NaturalizeNY used a lottery to award the 336 available vouchers, leaving 527 registrants without one. By following the two groups to see how many completed the citizenship application, researchers could measure the power of financial assistance, and in turn determine how much the costs may discourage others from naturalizing.

The results were unequivocal:the vouchers roughly doubled the application rate, from 37 percent among those without a voucher to 78 percent among recipients. The vouchers proved particularly effective for those who registered in Spanish; their application rate rose by 51 percent compared to a 36 percent rise among English speakers.

"Because NaturalizeNY uses a lottery system to equitably distribute vouchers to eligible registrants, for the first time we have clear causal evidence as to the effect of application fee vouchers on citizenship decisions. The magnitude of the effect suggests that it's a critical lever to improve low-income immigrants' access to citizenship", said Jens Hainmueller, a professor of political science at Stanford and IPL co-director.

The Deeper Challenges of Poverty

For the poorest immigrants, imidlertid, even eliminating the application cost isn't necessarily enough to pave the way toward citizenship. They may not know that they're eligible for a fee waiver, or they may find the process too difficult if they're working several jobs, caring for children or elderly relatives, or unable to get assistance with the application.

Do these kinds of disadvantages keep these immigrants from becoming citizens? At finde ud af, researchers identified 1, 760 immigrants who registered for NaturalizeNY but weren't entered into the lottery because they likely qualified for the federal fee waiver. While the voucher group's average annual household income was $19, 000 per person, this group's average was just $7, 500. Everyone in this group received a message during registration informing them that, based on their responses, they likely could apply for citizenship without cost and that assistance was available. 1, 124 then received various "nudges" encouraging them to apply and to visit a local service provider for help navigating the process.

These nudges mimicked the real-world interventions many groups rely on to reach immigrants in need:emails, phone calls, text messages, an official letter by regular mail, and a $10 MetroCard intended to allay the cost of commuting to a service provider. Yet none of these encouragements made a significant difference in application rates beyond the 44 percent for those who received no additional encouragements.

In follow-up surveys, many participants said they had been too busy to apply. But when researchers returned to the data, they found that busyness couldn't be the whole answer:the nudges were just as ineffective for single people as for members of large households, and for those of working age and retirement age.

"That so many ended up not applying indicates that challenges to naturalization run deeper than financial constraints, " said Duncan Lawrence, IPL executive director. "It's clear that we have more to learn about what sorts of cost-effective nudges may or may not work. Raising awareness of the fee waiver itself may be an important piece of the puzzle, and we are actively working to understand how learning about the fee waiver affects application rates."

Citizenship and Social Mobility

For policymakers looking to address social inequality and give low-income immigrants a potential pathway to the middle class, the voucher results speak volumes. The current naturalization system imposes prohibitive costs on exactly those immigrants who might stand to benefit the most from the opportunities citizenship brings.

NaturalizeNY could inspire other cities and states to create similar public-private partnerships. ONA director Laura Gonzalez-Murphy emphasized the project's actionable insights, ordsprog, "The New York State Office for New Americans Opportunity Centers are leaders on the ground, establishing strong relationships and trust with immigrants and refugees from across the world. We are always eager to eliminate barriers for these individuals and help them on their path to citizenship. Thanks to our partners, including Stanford, George Mason, and SUNY Albany, we now have a unique project to paint a real picture of the current immigration system and see where opportunities for positive change may arise."

At the federal level, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently lowered the fee for applicants between 150 and 200 percent of the poverty level. As this research illustrates, imidlertid, the financial barrier remains decisive for low-income immigrants above that range. Expanding this tiered system, with wealthier applicants paying more, would allow USCIS to cover its administrative costs while keeping citizenship affordable for all.

These are relatively simple projects to fund and administer, and they have a potentially big long-term payoff:if becoming an American citizen makes immigrants more likely to pursue higher education, start a business, or enter a profession, then boosting naturalization rates would make for better integrated, more prosperous communities.