APALRC Leads the First Asian Pacific Islander Citizenship Day in Maryland

Submitted by editor on Fri, 10/30/2009 - 14:02

    In partnership with five other Asian Pacific Islander (API) organizations, APALRC led the first  API Citizenship Day event in Maryland with panelists from various government agencies including the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services– Baltimore Office and Maryland Governor’s Commission on Asian Pacific American Affairs. 
 
Over sixty people of different ethnic backgrounds attended the event and volunteer interpreters assisted the panel discussion and individual consultations in many Asian languages including Hindi/Urdu, Korean, Mandarin Chinese,   and Vietnamese.  The panelists explained the naturalization requirements and processes from the initial submission of applications through citizenship interviews.  Pro bono immigration attorneys met with attendees who sought individual consultations.
 
Speaking on behalf of the Chairman of the Maryland Council for New Americans- County Executive Ike Leggett, Lily Qi, Community Liaison of the Montgomery County Office of Community Partnership, gave a welcome remark and shared her personal story of going through the immigration process: “I came to this country as an adult and I understand the everyday challenges of being an immigrant including language and cultural barriers.  I wish at that time I had this kind of program to help me understand the process and make it easier to become a citizen. I encourage you to take full advantage of the resources and information presented today.”
 
In 2006, the Department of Homeland Security estimated that there were about 35,000 eligible legal permanent residents of Asian descent in Maryland. However, language and systemic barriers— lack of available naturalization information in Asian languages, inadequate communication between government agencies and Asian immigrant communities, and high cost of applications— often hinder those eligible residents from applying for citizenship. 
 
In an effort to address some of those issues, a coalition of different API organizations led by APALRC launched an initiative called the Maryland Asian Americans Connected Project, which seeks to generate educational materials in different Asian languages, increased access to resources and naturalization services, and promote an ongoing dialogue between government agencies and immigrant communities. 
    
The Citizenship Day was part of this larger initiative, which was made possible through a grant awarded by the Maryland Council for New Americans, in partnership the Governor’s Office of Community Initiatives and the Department of Human Resources. 
 
 The coalition includes the Asian Pacific American Legal Resource Center (APALRC), Boat People SOS-Maryland (BPSOS-MD), Chinese Culture and Community Service Center (CCACC), Korean Community Service Center of Greater Washington (KCSC), Maryland Vietnamese Mutual Association, Inc. (MVMA), and South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT).       

For more information, please contact Dorothy White, Project Assistant for the New Americans Citizenship Project of Maryland  at dorothy.white@apalrc.org.