1,009 new citizens take oath in LV

Like many Americans, Diana Guillen has a lot of firmly established political opinions.

She's not happy with how the administration is handling matters in Iraq.

She thinks any U.S. immigration reform ought to emphasize keeping families together.

And she looks forward to helping elect a new president next year.

"When he started, I thought he had some good ideas," the 38-year-old said of President Bush. "Now, I don't like him too much."

Guillen, who had been a citizen all of 10 minutes Monday, was eager to express her opinions for the first time as an American.

The Mexico native, one of 1,009 people who became U.S. citizens at Cashman Theatre during Nevada's largest swearing-in ceremony ever, also was planning to join the line at one of several voter registration tables set up in the lobby.

"I'm going to vote for Hillary Clinton," the mother of two said. "She has some good ideas."

In fact, according to an informal Review-Journal survey Monday morning, a lot of newly minted Americans plan to vote for the U.S. senator from New York, assuming her name makes it to the presidential ballot.

"I really like her," said Sahra Mohamed, a 24-year-old Somalia native who had a difficult time pronouncing Clinton's name.

She smiled broadly when asked why, specifically, she planned to cast her first presidential vote as an American for Clinton.

"I don't know. I just really like her."

Mohamed, Guillen and the other new Americans represented 74 nations including Argentina, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Egypt, Iran, Syria and Taiwan -- with the largest contingent coming from Mexico.

The event coincided with large-scale citizenship ceremonies across the country held in celebration of Citizenship Day and Constitution Day.

U.S. District Judge Roger Hunt presided over the local ceremony.

While huge by Nevada standards, the number of people who became citizens in Las Vegas paled in comparison to cities with larger immigrant populations such as Los Angeles. Two Friday citizenship ceremonies held in that city's convention center each drew 4,500 people, said Sharon Rummery, a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services spokeswoman.

The number of citizenship applicants locally and nationwide has skyrocketed in the past couple of years in part because of the debate over immigration reform and improvements in the federal agency's Web site, according to immigration officials.

Many Hispanic and other political groups, disappointed over recently failed immigration reform proposals before Congress, also have focused on getting more Hispanic residents to apply for U.S. citizenship and register to vote before the 2008 elections in hopes of improving their political clout.

In July, 1,444 people applied to become citizens at the Las Vegas office of Citizenship and Immigration Services, an official with the agency said. That's more than twice the number who applied in July 2006.

Figures for August and the number of those applicants who are Hispanic were unavailable Monday.

All of the new citizens who were asked Monday whether they planned to register to vote said they would do so immediately.

"Of course," said 29-year-old France native Carole Dansi-Palmer, who works as a local massage therapist.

But she declined to say whom she planned to support in upcoming elections.

"That's personal."

Adrian Cirsmariu, a 36-year-old small-business owner from Romania, said he will vote for a Democrat.

"Clinton is a very strong candidate, but I like (Barack) Obama's ideas a lot," he said.

Andres Ramirez, director of outreach for the Nevada Democratic Party who was on hand to help register voters, estimated that about 10 percent of new citizens typically register to vote immediately after such citizenship ceremonies.

He added that new citizens tend to be more politically involved than many Americans, maybe because they don't take their freedoms as much for granted.

Those who want to become U.S. citizens must first be permanent residents. After applying for citizenship, they must be interviewed, take a U.S. government and history test, and prove they can read and write English.