Immigrant voter surge fails to drum up revenge against Trump
Citizenship drive falls short of 1 million goal
By Stephen Dinan - The Washington Times - Sunday, September 18, 2016
The anti-Trump immigrant voter surge has failed to materialize, as advocates’ hopes of recruiting 1 million green card holders to become citizens in time to vote have fallen short.
From December, when the advocates announced their effort, to the end of June, which marks an informal application deadline for citizenship before Election Day, some 600,000 naturalization applications were filed with the immigration service.
That was 9 percent more than the same period in 2012, the previous presidential election year, but way less than the 1 million that advocates sought, and it doesn’t come close to other citizenship surges.
Hispanic rights groups say they are now trying to sign up citizens who have never registered to vote. But even there, the groups are reportedly facing a funding shortfall that is sapping their energy.
Advocates were counting on Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump to help energize Hispanics eager to punish him for his stern stance against illegal immigration. They say they are still confident of a large turnout in November despite the naturalization numbers.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...p-revenge-aga/
