The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights

Tomorrow is national Citizenship Day, and workshops are being held across the country to help immigrants learn how to become citizens. NALEO Educational Fund will hold 13 workshops in various cities as part of the ya es hora ¡Ciudadanía! (It's Time, Citizenship!) campaign, a nonpartisan Latino civic participation effort launched as a response to the pro-immigrant mobilizations of 2006. 

The workshops are designed to help legal immigrants learn about naturalization - the process of becoming an American citizen. Immigrants are eligible to apply for citizenship if they are at least 18 years old, have been lawful permanent residents for five years (three if married to a citizen), and meet certain other basic requirements. A naturalized citizen receives the same rights and privileges as a native-born citizen, such as the right to vote.

The campaign is the largest and most comprehensive effort to incorporate Latinos as full participants in the American political process. Latinos comprised nearly half (44 percent) of the 1,046,539 citizens naturalized last year.