NEW YORK, NY December 28, 2007 —With anti-immigrant sentiment growing across the country and some presidential candidates using increasingly tough rhetoric, many immigrants are responding by applying for US citizenship. The latest statistics show that citizenship applications have nearly doubled over the last year to 1.4 million. The last time there was such a surge was in the mid-1990s.

As part of our occasional series Feet in Two Worlds, Pilar Marrero, a reporter with the Spanish language newspaper La Opinion in Los Angeles, reports on the reasons for this dramatic increase, and the possible political consequences.

Feet in Two Worlds is a project of the Center for New York City Affairs at The New School, linking public radio and ethnic media, and reporting on New York’s immigrant communities.