DALLAS, TEXAS — On April 19, 2008, the Texas chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association in partnership with the Richardson Public Library will be sponsoring a free single-day workshop between 10:00 am and 3:00 pm to assist eligible lawful permanent residents become United States citizens. Volunteer attorneys, paralegals, and translators will assist community members with naturalization applications. The workshop is part of a national campaign organized by the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) and other groups to help people through the sometimes difficult process of becoming American citizens. This is the second year that the Citizenship Day event will be conducted on a national scale. Last year, Dallas area AILA members assisted over eighty people with their applications to become United States citizens. On a nationwide basis, AILA chapters held Citizenship Day workshops at 27 different locations around the country. More than 350 attorneys and 500 non-attorney volunteers assisted 1,700 clients with their citizenship applications. AILA is pleased to announce that Citizenship Day is expanding further this year. “After the tremendous success we experienced with Citizenship Day 2007, we were really excited to expand the program to include more chapters and reach more applicants,†said AILA Pro Bono Associate Susan Timmons, who has been coordinating Citizenship Day 2008 with member attorneys across the U.S. This year, workshops will be offered in 26 different states. This is also the second year the Richardson Public Library has cosponsored Citizenship Day. The workshop falls in line with the library’s mission to provide free information and education to residents. Recent developments and initiatives regarding immigration issues, including a dramatic increase in the filing fees for naturalization cases, among others, and the increased difficulty of the required testing for naturalization applicants, have resulted in an even greater surge of lawful permanent residents seeking citizenship as they become eligible to do so. Each year, hundreds of thousands of immigrants, from all corners of the globe, embrace the ideals of freedom and democracy and become United States citizens. Statistics show that over 700,000 immigrants became U.S. citizens in during fiscal year 2006 alone, and about 4.5 million individuals have naturalized since the year 2000. “So many immigrants love this country and want to participate fully in our democracy as American citizens. AILA lawyers view Citizenship Day as a public service. We are dedicated and committed to supporting the Dallas community.†said local coordinator, Vishal Chander. ###
