Please Sign on to a Letter to the Governor Today!

Governor Schwarzenegger eliminated all funding for the Naturalization Services Program in the recently passed 2008-2009 budget. NSP provides critical support to immigrants seeking to become new citizens, a key resource in a state that has one of the lowest naturalization rates in the country.

Join organizations across the state in demanding restoration of NSP funds in 2009. This sign-on letter will be delivered to the Governor to kick off a campaign to restore NSP funding next year.

Please contact Garrick Wong at gwong@caimmigrant.org to sign on. Thank you.

TEXT OF THE SIGN-ON LETTER

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger

State Capitol

Sacramento, CA. 95814

Dear Governor,

We, the undersigned organizations, write to express our deep concern and outrage that all funding for the Naturalization Services Program (NSP) was eliminated through a line item veto in the 2008-2009 state budget.

More than one-quarter of California's residents are foreign born, the highest proportion of any state in the country. Approximately 9.4 million California residents are immigrants, and 3.2 million lawful permanent residents are now eligible for naturalization. It is time for California to make naturalization a state priority. California's immigrant communities come from diverse countries, speak more than 250 languages, and live in all 58 of the state's counties. Immigrants and their families are essential to California's economic future and will have a significant impact on the state for decades to come. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has continued its campaign to erect obstacles for immigrants who wish to become citizens, through increases in citizenship fees and substantial changes to the naturalization test. NSP provides needed assistance to immigrants who are eligible to naturalize but face barriers such as poverty, age, or English proficiency. Eliminating all funding for this program is short sighted, and fails to take into consideration the economic and civic benefits that the state would reap from increasing its naturalization rates.

California's naturalization rate is among the lowest in the nation, a situation our state can ill afford - as the legislature recognized. We urge you to work with the legislature to restore full funding to the NSP program in 2009. Naturalization is a key entry point into full civic and political participation. As immigrants integrate into California communities, their investment in the health of our schools, businesses and infrastructure increases.

Sincerely,

(UNDERSIGNED ORGANIZATIONS)