Free Citizenship Workshops Offered to Residents

A free citizenship workshop will be available in the city of La Puente on Saturday August 4, to offer assistance and counseling to San Gabriel Valley residents interested in obtaining American citizenship, according to event organizers.

Although it is not expected that all of the 27,000 legal permanent residents who now qualify for naturalization will go through with the process, the event aims to serve a large number of San Gabriel Valley residents who can take advantage of this information.

"When immigrants become citizens and exercise their right to vote, our democracy becomes stronger," said Assemblyman Roger Hernández, who represents Baldwin Park and other neighboring cities in the State Legislature and who is also part of this joint effort.

"Here in the San Gabriel Valley we are fortunate to have such a diverse fabric of residents that will benefit from opportunities such as this Citizenship Drive,” he added.

Hernández is organizing the event along with the Coalition for Human Immigrant Rights Los Angeles (CHIRLA) and the National Association of Latino Elected Officials (NALEO).

“Becoming a US citizen for Legal Permanent Residents should be a priority. Applicants can protect their family and obtain all rights reserved only to American Citizens,” said Julio Marroquin, member of CHIRLA.

Organizers expect to serve more than 200 people during the event, which will start at 9 a.m. at the La Puente Community Center, located at 501 Glendora St.

Out of the 137,440 eligible legal permanent residents in Los Angeles County, it is estimated that one out of five live in the San Gabriel Valley.
 
For more information, contact Claudia Goytia at 626.960.4457.

Citizenship Workshop:

Saturday, August 4, 2012
9:00 am – 12:00 pm
501 Glendora Ave.
La Puente, CA 91744

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