Ildi Flores, 84, of Nogales, lived in the U.S. 50 years before applying for citizenship in May 2017.
People over age 60 are rushing to become citizens in Southern Arizona after living in the United States legally for years.
Federal immigration officials confirmed the trend but said it had no current numbers for the sharp increase in seniors applying to become U.S. citizens.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva, who has sponsored citizenship information meetings in his Southern Arizona congressional district, said a desire for the security that citizenship offers is compelling more people to seek it.
Under the Trump administration, Grijalva said, the feeling of security has turned into fear.
“The ultimate security is to be a U.S. citizen," he said, "where you are protected by laws, by process, due process and the rule of law.”
Grijalva said his own experience with his father is a prime example.
“He was a legal permanent resident here for almost 50 years," he said. "And he never pursued his citizenship until later in his life. The reason I mention that is because there was a comfort. There was a security that their legal permanent residency status – they're playing by the rules and not getting into trouble – that was the security that he needed, and he felt comfortable with that.”
That has changed, Grijalva said, and it has led him to sponsor the citizenship meetings, including a recent one in Nogales, where retired social worker Uvaldina Diez worked the room.
Diez, who is 87 and has been a citizen for decades, said she provides citizenship advice and more for other seniors, including some older even than she is.
"In the last year, 2016, I helped 16 people become citizens,” Diez said.
She has made herself an expert at navigating the immigration system and helping her eligible friends and neighbors gain their citizenship, no matter how old and no matter how long they have been in the country.
“I fill out the papers," Diez said. "I give the Constitution for the study. I try to help in the study."
She said she tells many of her older friends to take the steps needed to become citizens.
One friend, Ildi Flores, has lived in the country 50 years. She showed up at the citizenship meeting with a bag full of paperwork, ready to become a citizen.
Flores made a reporter guess her age, and then said:
"I am 84," she said, adding that she wanted to become a citizen because, "I just don’t want any problems."
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