Montgomery County Announces Citizenship Initiative

SILVER SPRING, MD — County Executive Ike Leggett was on Veterans Plaza in downtown Silver Spring Tuesday morning to help launch a Citizenship Initiative to promote and help eligible residents in Montgomery County become U.S. citizens.

Montgomery County joined Cities for Citizenship and the "Naturalize Now! Summer Citizenship Campaign," a coordinated naturalization event and communications outreach effort to encourage eligible community members to naturalize this year.

"We will be working together and collaborating with our nonprofit partners and US Citizenship and Immigration Services to make sure that we have a successful Citizenship initiative," Leggett said. "We will develop 'Citizenship informational corners; and connecting the immigrant community to resources, materials, information and toolkits available in different languages to help them navigate the process."

Cities for Citizenships is a national initiative aimed at increasing citizenship among eligible U.S. permanent residents and encouraging cities across the country to invest in citizenship programs. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcett and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel are the organization's chairs.

According to Leggett's remarks, there are over 50,000 Montgomery County residents from all over the world that are eligible to become citizens. This includes 44 percent of people from Latin America, 29 percent from Asia, 15 percent from Africa, 10 percent from Europe and 2 percent "other," Leggett said.

Leggett said he will work with nonprofits to hold ongoing citizenship workshops around the county and in county facilities. The first workshop will be 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, June 3 at the Rockville Library.

Photo: Pixabay