Mayor Eric Garcetti unveiled a website Thursday that he said is aimed at helping Angelenos eligible for U.S. citizenship get started on the process toward naturalization.
“There are hundreds of thousands of Angelenos who are eligible to become U.S. citizens, but for one reason or another have not initiated or completed the naturalization process,” he said. “We want to make sure that residents have a friendlier, quicker, and easier time navigating their path to citizenship.”
The website was announced as the White House began a push for more immigrants to become citizens in time to vote in the 2016 presidential election.
Garcetti’s office tied the website unveiling to national Citizenship Day and Hispanic Heritage Month.
The website — http://StepForward.lacity.org — includes a questionnaire for determining eligibility for citizenship. It also features a map of locations of nonprofit groups that offer assistance with citizenship applications and city libraries that maintain a “Citizenship Corner” with sample tests and other study aids.
The website is part of Garcetti’s Step Forward L.A. campaign, which was originally launched to help Angelenos apply for DACA and DAPA, President Barack Obama’s executive programs that defer deportation of undocumented parents and people who were brought illegally to the United States when they were children.
Newer parts of Obama’s program that were announced earlier this year have since stalled due to a legal challenge.
— City News Service