Dozens of union workers attend Central Labor Council's citizenship drive

When Luz came to the United States from Barranquilla, Colombia, roughly 40 years ago, she thought she might become an American citizen at some point.

But “always I said ‘later, later, later,’” as she put it. “Time flies away here.”

Now nearing retirement and wanting to more easily travel between New York and Colombia, where her 90-year-old father still lives, Luz said the time had come. A hotel housekeeper and a member of the Hotel and Gaming Trades Council, she turned to the union for help.

Luz was one of about 100 legal permanent residents who attended the New York City Central Labor Council’s second annual citizenship drive last Saturday. The event highlighted  the demand for immigration and naturalization support among workers and their families, and revealed how unions are tapping into New York’s nonprofit infrastructure to fill that need.

The Central Labor Council hosted the clinic at its Manhattan headquarters alongside Dominicanos USA and CUNY Citizenship Now!, both of which have a long track record of demystifying the naturalization process for New Yorkers. Other organizing partners included the NALEO Education Fund, Dominican Bar Association, and New Americans Campaign.

Saturday’s applicants hailed from at least five continents, organizers said, and included young families, workers eyeing retirement, and even one baby-faced kid who said he was 18 as he exited with an application package in tow. The common thread was the majority of applicants were union members or their friends and families.

Most attendees had filled out their N-400 naturalization forms ahead of time, so when they arrived, volunteers guided them through a series of stations, including a legal review with a pro bono attorney and fee waiver assistance for qualified applicants. They then packaged the applications for mailing, and representatives from the New-York Historical Society shared information about free classes it offers to help applicants ace the civics test.

All told, most folks were done in about an hour. Though the event felt at times like organized chaos, both attendees and staff agreed the process was easy — not a word often associated with the path to citizenship, as one union staffer pointed out.

A natural partnership

The Central Labor Council co-hosted its first citizenship drive last year, but this type of event is nothing new for Citizenship Now! and Dominicanos USA. The organizations run similar clinics every month, so they bring a proven infrastructure and a committed network of attorneys and volunteers.

Monique Francis, interim executive director of Citizenship Now!, said working with the unions makes life easier for her organization, too. The unions help applicants navigate the financial aspects of applying for citizenship, even reimbursing those who go through the process. As of this year, merely submitting an N-400 application costs as much as $760.

The unions also help spread the word. Jennie Encalada-Malinowski, an organizer with the Local 1010 Laborers-Employers Cooperation and Education Trust, said helping Local 1010 workers become citizens is a natural outgrowth of the group’s member engagement efforts.

“We want our members to think of the union not just as a place to go get their training or to put their name on an upcoming class list, but as a place where they can seek other services and see that their union is able to help them,” Encalada-Malinowski said.

Local 1010, a chapter of Laborers’ International Union of North America, represents more than 2,500 paving and road construction workers hailing from 27 different countries. Encalada-Malinoswki told The Chief that the demand for naturalization resources has been clear to her for years, but when Local 1010 began working with the Central Labor Council three years ago, the union finally had an outlet for members seeking a U.S. passport.

Carlos, a member of the Local 1010 executive board, had several colleagues attend last year’s event and decided Saturday was the “perfect opportunity” to do so himself. He emigrated from Spain in 2013 in search of work and also because he “met a beautiful American woman.” The two are now married, but — like Luz — Carlos kept putting off citizenship until he heard about the citizenship drive.

Diverse motivations

The reasons people give for wanting to naturalize are numerous, said Eddie Cuesta, the executive director of Dominicanos USA. He cited family reunification, the ability to vote and freedom to travel between the U.S. and one’s birth country as common motivations.

Many more people are eligible to apply and may be interested, but for one reason or another, “the information doesn’t get to them,” Cuesta said. But for the unions, helping members traverse the path to citizenship isn’t just about filling demand. Their incentives, too, are further-reaching.

Encalada-Malinowski said Local 1010 sees the long-term implications of getting qualified workers their U.S. passports, including the importance for “workers rights and safety and protection on the job, and then building political power of our members as a union.”

Richard Maroko, the president of the Hotel and Gaming Trades Council, had a similar view, telling The Chief that issues around immigration and citizenship have long been a focus for his union because of the composition of its membership. As examples, Maroko pointed out the union’s prepaid legal fund for immigration-related issues and protections for foreign workers in its collective bargaining agreements that go beyond what is legally required.

Immigration is personal for Maroko, whose mother and father emigrated from Brazil and Poland, respectively, and as political candidates have attacked foreign nationals ahead of the upcoming election, he’s been “acutely aware of how dangerous things can be for immigrants.”

Those dangers may not have been on the minds of every applicant Saturday — the upbeat mood inside the Central Labor Council headquarters suggested otherwise — but they are part of the equation for unions with diverse memberships like the Trades Council and Local 1010.

“The ability to help some immigrants obtain citizenship and become kind of full participants in the political process, I think it's important,” Maroko said. “I think it's important that they be able to participate fully.”