Republican presidential hopeful Ted Cruz wasn't born in the United States. How can he be running for President? When Cruz announced his candidacy. And it exposes about what it takes to be a US citizen. Look into the facts citizenship oath natural born and naturalized. Madison Hopkins, and investigative assistance, who crunch the numbers. Welcome to the show. Thank you for having me. And Ricoh Martelli. He studies migration and demographics. And Ricoh, welcome? Why is it okay for Ted Cruz to run for President when he wasn't born in the US? He was born in Canada but to an American mother so he is considered a natural born US citizen and President. Anyone was born overseas needs to be born when US parent, certain residency requirements to have an automatic citizenship. Born in -- everyone born in this country immediately US citizen? Yes. That children are here illegally. Guaranteed by the fourth amendment, born within the United States is a US citizen. What's a naturalized citizen? Immigrated here legally and process to become a US citizen. They had to fulfill certain agreement starting with becoming a legal permanent resident, the VA legal permanent resident for five years before applying for citizenship and that can be reduced over three years, if you're married or one year if you served honorably in the US will attack. After they have completed this time period, potential loses and has to fill out an application pay a fee, almost $700 in most cases, interview, pass a test based talents of our government and read and write a sickly was. When all of that has been pleaded they go to a naturalization ceremony in take the oath of allegiance to finish up the process and become a US citizen. You attended the naturalization ceremony. I am from Iraq, discrimination my country. I used to work with -- North of Iraq. When they figured out that I was they threaten me. That's what I want to Gabe that country. And the country that is civil rights. I am from Morocco and I am 31 years old. I always believe so many opportunities here. That was my goal. I am 40 years old. I am from India. I came here to live the good American life. Pursue that. Pirate, and I am 35 years old. I got married and my husband is a US citizen so I had to move over here. I was living in -- originally from the middle of Mexico. 40 years of age and from Ireland to Wrigley. Just looking for something different, some adventure, then come over to visit and the lifestyle. Some of the people who became US citizens at a naturalization ceremony in San Diego. Madison, what else did you learn about who is becoming a US citizen? The demographics of people decided to become citizens. A slight majority are women. 55%. Also pretty young, one in four are between the ages of 24 and 34 and overall for men and women about one in three are 34 or younger. Naturalized in San Diego County, most likely to be from Mexico. More than 4000 new citizens in San Diego. As someone who studies demographics about migration and demographics any of the status of pricing? Not really. Especially because a decade ago or so from UCSD, looking at Mexican immigration we identified proportions of women coming. That the while there is a majority of where women and analyzed. Not a huge majority. If you compare the% of women among all naturalized, not just those in the 10 years, all naturalized it is about 54% and all residents, it's about 50/50. It's very similar. The age profile is slightly younger. Then the all naturalized citizens in the country. The biggest difference that I see, not a huge surprise, it's a difference, 15% by according to the data that are unemployed. When Madison look at the number that did report an occupation. More of a labor force for participation. If you look at the unemployed rate. Only about 9% of all San Diego County residents. What would that be a triple-double to? First thing to understand is that a large majority, 60% of all naturalized citizens and County have lived in the country for more than 25 years. Although they are recently naturalized, they been here a very long time. Naturalized in the last 10 years. High proportion of percentage who are unemployed, a lot of sectors. The economy overall, I demanded and they have -- Stiller language issues, cultural barriers, the same kind of barriers that exist for capital, profiles that exist for Borst workers. Being employed is not a prerequisite for becoming a US citizen. What are the effects of naturalization becoming a citizen? On the immigrant him or herself. I think the primary effect is psychological and material psychological in the sense that naturalizing actually provides residents, of more certainty that even if they are questioned about their legal status, they don't have to worry that they will be deported. Some legal permanent residents, can be deported erroneously. When someone has their citizenship there's just a lot lower. Among them. Also economic advantages, more jobs can apply for. And what really changes is that there is a broadening of social networks. That occurs once it doesn't happen automatically. Long you lived in United States but that citizenship adjustment does that to the confidence that people have to apply for jobs to talk to other people. And so the networks become broader. Just to be clear, since we're talking about this, there are many people living in this country without proper documentation at all. Does there now exist anyway, someone who is here illegally to become a citizen? To be honest, I don't know of it. The usual process as you and most listeners know is you have to go to immigration adjustment that goes authorized status. Temporary visitors, refugee or -- and then you can apply to just becoming a citizen but to go directly from being undocumented or unauthorized, that jump is much less likely. I'm not aware of any. A large debate over this and the fact that there is no such pathway to citizenship as it exists now to illegal immigration is that that should be part of immigration reform, at least what the advocates are saying Very interestingly in June of 2012 as we know President Obama gave a stay of deportation and that follows other temporary protected status policies that occur in the 80s or '90s it is renewed and becomes a for permanent fixture. It could be possible that would allow those folks who are allowed to be in the United States illegally for them to adjust their status to become a citizen. As far as I know that is not possible. What are some of the legal rights that someone gains from being a permanent resident with a green card to becoming a citizen. There obviously participate in elections. When I try to annoy go about it I was surprised not high on the priorities as Dwight legal -- but they do gain that. Second it is much easier for US citizens to participant to bring family members over from other countries than legal permanent residence or undocumented immigrants. Overall what you are speaking to is a sense of stability in the country. They will not have anybody questioning their legal status and they don't fear deportation. You give us some of the numbers on San Diego and who becomes a US citizen here. Do the local trends hold up for the rest of the nation? For the most part yes. Demographics are about the same as they are in San Diego except for country of origin. The date I was looking at from the Department of Homeland Security, most were coming from Mexico but nationally the largest categories what they would categorize as the other category. This means that out of the 1016 total countries, the ones didn't make the top 20 combined with the other category reflecting the true diversity of new citizens on a national scale. In dealing with demographics when it comes to migration patterns and who is becoming a citizen of the United States, does it fly in the face of some of the impressions people have about immigration? Who is coming from where and what immigrants are? The different perhaps the different categories of people who make up immigrants to the United States? I've been studying this for two decades and to be honest with you even scholars like myself, even for most people 10 years were differentiated by these statuses formally. I think most people when they think about immigration they don't really separate into all these different categories so I think to your credit, it's really great that we did this analysis and you are having the show because there are differences by legal statuses that are important. They think in terms of how people view residence in the United States they often don't differentiate by these categories. I'm also saying it's great you have a program like this because there are real structures and institutional differences that affect peoples lives and and not just immigrants. I don't know if we have time to talk about how becoming naturalized affects other people in San Diego County. How does it affect the entire community? The most important thing there is what I have already said. Most people lived here a very long time. The overall effect isn't going to be great. They been here and then working and employment rates are low but lower for those naturalized in the last 10 years but naturalized citizens in San Diego County are not very different than the rest. I want to point out one little statistic if you look at the employment rate, they actually have a slightly higher employment rate than all other San Diego residents after about 10 years. Given what I've already said that most people who have lived here a very long time and it's the case their employment is higher after that 10 years you can see they actually -- one differs command and first adjust their less likely to find jobs and more likely to be unemployed and over time that changes. The effect on the economy is actually positive in terms of working and contributing taxes and those kinds of things. So that the economic effect and access to ensure medical care. There's a lot of evidence to suggest the more you extend insurance and care to underserved populations or populations that did not have a previously it increases the pool of resources that can provide care to everyone. And also the quality of care arises. This is been throughout the country. But these are interesting things. The economic effect, the effect on access to insurance and care, and the effect on health in general. Madison, what may be perhaps the barriers that keep people from not going through the naturalization process? There's the fee. $680 on average. And thank all so it can be difficult to even get over here to begin with. Such a huge backlog among people attempting to come here initially especially in countries like Mexico where there are so many applicants that they may wait years or even decades to even get a chance to come over here to begin the process of becoming a legal resident. The timeframe is something that stops people a lot. Is that right? Combined with the economic. That is the number one issue of thing. But it's a time, you have to wait five years but the time to take off work, taking care of your kids to go into this, it's not the time questions you get asked, six of which you must answer correctly but it's the time it takes to apply, to get all your documents together. Let me stop there and I have been speaking with Madison Hopkins investigative assistant with new source and demographer with San Diego State University. Thank you both very much.
When Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, announced he was running for president in 2016, one of the first questions asked was whether he was an American citizen. Cruz was born in Canada to an American-born mother, and the Constitution requires a presidential candidate be a “natural-born” citizen. In other words, a citizen at birth. Turns out, the fact Cruz’s mother was an American gave him an automatic claim to citizenship.
That got us thinking over at inewsource about what it means to be a natural-born American compared to someone who becomes a naturalized citizen — a process that can sometimes take as long as two decades. So we did what we do best: crunch the numbers, in this case from the Department of Homeland Security.
On average there are almost six times as many natural born citizens — babies born in America (or born to American parents abroad) — than people who go through the naturalization process.
There are about four million babies born each year in the U.S. and an average of 60,000 more have been born to American parents abroad over the past decade.
At naturalization ceremonies across the country, 654,949 people became American citizens in 2014. Nearly 10 million have done it since 2001.
In 2013, a majority of naturalized citizens, about 55 percent, were women.
Women also account for more than half of the country’s legal permanent residents, otherwise known as immigrants with green cards. These figures don’t include immigrants residing in the U.S. with other types of visas or undocumented immigrants.
They come from all countries, but Mexico tops the list for their country of origin.
So why so many women?
Enrico Marcell, an associate professor of demography at San Diego State University and published researcher on immigration policy, said in recent decades more women started to come to the U.S. without depending on a man to go first.
John Weeks, an SDSU geography professor who specializes in the U.S. and Mexico border population, said his research shows, “Women are becoming increasingly competitive in the labor market, relative to men.”
At the same time, some employers take advantage of the fact that some women are willing to work for less than a man, Weeks said.
While the data only reflects immigrants who chose to complete the naturalization process and become citizens, they don’t show how long these people have been living legally in the U.S. as permanent residents.
Of the women who become citizens, one in four are between 24 and 34 years old. For men and women combined, one in three is 34 or younger. This may seem young. But Weeks said they may have waited many years or even decades to come to the U.S. The large backlog of applications for visas from countries like Mexico keeps people waiting.
When it comes to work, the largest number — 28 percent — of naturalized citizens fall into the “no occupation category.” For women, that number is higher at about 34 percent. This could mean they are students, homemakers or retired or unable to find work, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
Although the data shows many new citizens are unemployed, Marcelli said a more accurate indicator of immigrant employment is how long they lived in the U.S. They are more likely to improve their English skills, earn a higher level of education, or find suitable employment.
