Karen Yi

@karen_yi

NEWARK - Clutching a small American flag, Gloria Elsy Gomez waved it high in the air, reveling in the first few seconds of her new citizenship.

Today, she was officially American — and, more importantly, a member of the electorate.

"That's why I became a citizen," Gomez, who was born in Colombia and lives in Elizabeth, said during her naturalization ceremony. "I'm interested in voting so that Donald Trump doesn't become president."

Trump's rise as the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, coupled with his harsh rhetoric against Mexicans, the undocumented and Muslim refugees, has emboldened many immigrants in the Garden State to naturalize for the right to vote, activists say.

"They know they want to take a stand against Donald Trump," said Rita Dentino, director of Casa Freehold, an immigrant advocacy group. "That’s universal."

Naturalization applications in New Jersey in the last six months of 2015 increased by 13 percent compared to the same period last year, according to data from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Between July and December 2015, 19,829 applications for naturalization were received. In 2014, that number was 17,478.

The spike is national: Naturalization applications were up by 14 percent over the same six months in 2015, compared to the year prior. The increase was just 8 percent ahead of the 2012 elections, according to government statistics.

"There's definitely been an uptick in people wanting to become a citizen," said Roberto Frugone, Northeast regional director for the NALEO Education Fund, which promotes Latino political involvement. "A lot of people are concerned and want to feel more empowered to be able to lead the direction of this country."

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David Redlawsk, director of the Eagleton Center for Public Interest Polling, says the onslaught of new citizens heading to the ballot box won't significantly turn the tide, at least in this state.

"Jersey is so highly likely to be in the Democrats' column it probably doesn’t change the game in New Jersey," said Redlawsk. "Nobody believes New Jersey is in play and as a consequence it isn’t that it would change the outcome, but it might make it more emphatic."

But those new ranks of voters, Redlawsk added, could prove influential in future elections like the governor's race.

READ: Chris Christie warming to being Donald Trump VP?

Get out the vote efforts eased by rhetoric

Groups mobilizing voter registration efforts say there's more fervor and higher participation this year than usual, and not just among Latinos.

"People are denigrating our faith … for absolutely no reason," M. Ali Chaudry, a leader of the New Jersey Muslim Voters Project and president of the Islamic Society of Basking Ridge said, referring to the anti-Muslim rhetoric that has been a staple of the GOP campaign. "Muslims are now saying we won’t take that, we won't accept that, we are not going to let people humiliate us."

In addition to calling undocumented Mexican immigrants rapists, proposing a "beautiful" wall along the U.S.-Mexico border and the deportation of the more than 11 million undocumented immigrants in the country, Trump suggested banning all Muslims from entering the U.S. in the wake of the San Bernardino attack.

"It’s not as hard to convince people that they have to get out," said Chaudry.

READ: Groups: We'll keep resettling refugees in NJ

But the sentiment also rings true among those who want the nation's next president to halt illegal immigration.

A.D. Amar, of Warren Township, helped form a political action committee called Indian Americans for Trump 2016 in January. The group does not raise money, instead, its focus is on educating the public about Trump's vision.

Amar, 69, a business professor at Seton Hall University, said his group supports Trump because of his promise to fix the economy, his views on immigration and his declaration that he will not take any money from special interest groups.

"I have seen this country start to decline over the last 40 years or so," he said. Amar, who arrived in the U.S. from India 44 years ago on a student visa and became a citizen in 1980, backs Trump's proposal to build a wall and stop immigrants from coming to the country illegally.

"America is a county of immigrants, it has been a melting pot," he said. "If that melting pot does not have people from all over the world but has people from only a specific region or specific culture, then it’s not going to be a melting pot, the strength of the United States will disappear."

Amar also agreed with Trump's proposal to ban Muslims until they are fully vetted.

Since January of this year more than 6,200 Monmouth County residents and 5,100 Ocean County residents have registered to vote, according to the state. More than 81,800 new voters have joined the electorate in all of New Jersey.

Hispanics have been bolstering the voter rolls elsewhere as well.

In California, twice as many Hispanics registered to vote in the first three months of 2016 than in the same period in 2012, according to reports. In Iowa, labor leaders estimate five times more Hispanics cast a vote in the caucuses than in 2008, the Washington Post said.

It isn't just Trump helping to get out the vote. Billionaire George Soros and other liberal donors launched a $15 million voter turnout campaign this year hoping the anti-Trump rage could propel more Latinos and immigrants to cast Democratic votes in the fall.

Maria Chavez, a six-year citizen, said she finally registered to vote this March.

"It's one of the rights that made me want to become a citizen," said Chavez, a Newark resident born in Peru. "It's one more vote and it's a need for our community, to have a say in who leads our country."

A Gallup poll in March found 77 percent of Hispanics view Trump unfavorably. But Trump remains steadfast; he's told media outlets he's going to win the Hispanic vote because of his commitment to create jobs.

READ: Fake front page on Trump names Christie AG

Could the immigrant vote make a difference?

Redlawsk said peaks in voter registration are typical in presidential election years but this year proves unique.

"Donald Trump is certainly not the typical presidential candidate in the way he talks and the language he uses and the dismissive nature in which he talks to the other side. That is certainly different and that’s part of his appeal to some voters," Redlawsk said. "It’s not just a matter of policy positions, people do galvanize; but in the case of Trump, it's well beyond his policy positions, it's his entire demeanor toward large groups of people in the population."

Amar, of Indian Americans for Trump, said Trump's tone is part of his draw.

“I want the American president to have attitude," he said. "America is exceptional … and we want our president to behave accordingly."

It's estimated there are more than 360,000 legal permanent residents in New Jersey and about 8.8 million nationally who are eligible to naturalize, according to a report by the Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration at the University of Southern California. If all eligible New Jersey permanent resident became citizens, the report estimates the voting population would increase by 6.1 percent.

Frugone, of the NALEO Education Fund, said newly naturalized citizens make up the second-largest source of the Latino electorate.

The Latino population in New Jersey is the seventh-largest in the country; about 1.7 million reside in the state. There are 831,000 eligible Hispanic voters in the state, the seventh-largest Latino voting bloc in the nation, according to the Pew Research Center.

"It’s a cycle in which there’s been a great deal of focus on immigration and a great deal of focus coming into the country ... so it doesn’t surprise me to find that long-time immigrants who want to be naturalized ... are motivated to do it now and to be heard," said Redlawsk. "When people feel potentially threatened they are certainly much more likely to respond."

Isabel Ocola, a resident of Garfield, took her citizenship oath in a roomful of immigrants from 30 different countries. She pledged allegiance to the American flag against the backdrop of the New York City skyline, visible from the federal building's 15th floor in Newark.

She's been a resident for 20 years but decided to become a citizen this year to exercise her right to vote. She's not sure which Democrat she'll vote for in the state's June 7 primaries, but in the general election, she's decided: It won't be Trump.

Karen Yi: 732-643-4277; kyi@gannettnj.com