Citizenship Day event helps dozens who are eligible do citizenship application paperwork

WILLMAR — For Yesenia Ahl, who has lived in Willmar almost 14 years, it was time.

She went to Paz y Esperanza Lutheran Church on Saturday where volunteers helped her fill out the paperwork to apply for U.S. citizenship.

For $20 to cover basic costs, Ahl was able to get her forms checked over by an immigration lawyer and ready to mail.

“I don’t want to miss this opportunity,” she said. She is already a permanent legal resident of the United States, but had put off applying for citizenship.

It was easier to get the paperwork done with help from the volunteers, she said, and she couldn’t have gotten a lawyer to look over the forms for such a low cost.

Ahl left with an envelope all stuffed and ready to go. She still needed to add a check or money order to pay the $675 application fee. For her, that’s about what she would bring home from two weeks of work, Ahl said.

The Citizenship Day event Saturday offered assistance with applications at sites around the country, including nine in Minnesota. The event is sponsored by the American Immigration Lawyers Association. It was the first time the assistance has been offered in Willmar.

Twenty-two people had made appointments, and perhaps twice that number of walk-ins showed up at the church on Saturday, according to organizers at the Willmar site. The doors didn’t open until 10 a.m., but people started coming to the church at 8 a.m. to wait their turn.

To start their application process, people filled out a form more than 10 pages long. It asked for every job held and every address for the past five years, along with information about marriages, divorces and name changes. They also needed to include copies of documents, including their green cards.

Before they become citizens, they will have to complete other steps, including going to a personal interview and answering questions about U.S. government.

“It’s really exciting,” said Amalia Anderson, who was helping people get their paperwork ready to mail. “People are already talking about possibly voting.” Anderson works for the Main Street Project and with the Raices Project in Willmar.

Unfortunately, a large backlog in applications makes voting this year unlikely for people who are applying this spring. The fee increased in July 2007, and Minnesota saw a 625 percent increase in applications just before that, said attorney John Keller, executive director of the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota.

Before that, it used to take about six months to complete the process in Minnesota, he said. Now, it’s about nine months for some people, but as long as 14 to 18 months in some cases.

Jose Ivan Rodriguez came to the church on Saturday with his wife, Patricia, and their 5-year-old son Edgar Ivan. Rodriguez said he’s been in the country for 19 years and a citizen for 12 years. His wife has lived in the country for about 10 years.

Patricia Rodriguez is applying so she can get the benefits of citizenship, including voting, her husband said.

He praised the volunteers for helping people with the forms. “You can do it yourself, but it’s really hard,” he said.

Willmar Mayor Les Heitke and state Sen. Joe Gimse, R-Willmar, stopped to visit with the prospective citizens.

Gimse said the people he talked to were excited to become citizens. “What’s really fun about this is it’s such a positive thing,” he said.

Heitke said he was pleased to see people taking advantage of the opportunity on Saturday.

“These are working people, they’re supporting their families, and now they want to do more,” he said. “We welcome their participation.”