Maria Garcia sat inside a meeting hall at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Barrio Logan on a recent evening, holding an application for U.S. citizenship. About 100 others joined her in the brightly lit room.

Though she’s been a green card holder since 1990, the 62-year-old Mexican immigrant says fear has stopped her from undergoing the naturalization process. Now, Garcia said, the harsh rhetoric driving Donald Trump’s presidential campaign has spurred her to action.

“I’m doing this because of that man who wants to hurt us. He says so many things about us (Latinos),” she said in Spanish. “That’s what motivates me, because I think to myself, ‘one additional vote will help.’”

Garcia is part of a growing number of Latinos applying to become naturalized citizens in time for the Nov. 8 election. Giving them encouragement and support are voter organizations, churches and other small community groups.


Nationally, the number of citizenship applications increased by 14 percent in the last six months of 2015, compared with the same time period in 2014, according to data from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

In Chula Vista, where Latinos account for a majority of the population, there was a 35 percent spike in citizenship applications in the same time periods.

About 27.3 million Latinos are eligible to vote in the U.S. elections this year, according to the Pew Research Center. Of those, 7 million live in California.

In San Diego County, 278,000 of the county’s 1.4 million voters — about 20 percent — are Latino. More than half of Latino voters are registered Democrats, and more than 50,000 are Republican, according to estimates by the registrar.


Organizations such as Mi Familia Vota, or “My Family Votes,” have significantly ramped up efforts to increase the number of Latinos eligible to vote.

Executive Director Ben Monterroso said the group has seen a marked increase in Latinos looking to naturalize before the election.

“Not only that, but with the expectation that they want to get out and vote against Donald Trump,” he said. “That’s new. We have been leading citizenship workshops for a long time, but we’re seeing more and more Latinos coming out each time.”

The nonprofit has gone from hosting citizenship workshops three times a year to at least once a month at each of its locations, Monterroso said.


“They understand that the elections are potentially going to have consequences for (immigrant) families,” he said.

The San Diego Organizing Project, a nonpartisan, faith-based organization aimed at addressing community needs and increasing civic involvement, leads immigration workshops that in recent months have drawn upward of 100 people.

With a $25,000 loan from the San Diego-based Employee Rights Center, the group works with congregations to guide immigrants through the naturalization process.

Sandra Becerra, who lives in National City, submitted her naturalization application two months ago with the assistance of the citizenship program at Saint Anthony of Padua parish.


Becerra, who has been a green card holder for 28 years, is preparing to take her civics exam.

“More than anything, it’s about the fact that we can vote. About having that satisfaction,” she said in Spanish.

Though she hasn’t decided on which candidate she’ll back, Becerra says it definitely won’t be Trump.

“I just don’t agree with his sentiments. I respect him, but I don’t agree with him,” she said. “Even if he were the only one left to vote for, I wouldn’t vote for him.


Trump’s campaign did not respond to requests for comment. The Republican front-runner has been straightforward in his comments about unauthorized immigrants.

When he kicked off his presidential bid in June, Trump said, “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. ... They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”

He also has proposed building a wall across the U.S. and Mexico border. Just last week, Trump said he would force Mexico to pay for the border wall by cutting off the billions of dollars in remittances sent by immigrants in the U.S.

Still, there are some Latinos supporting the Republican businessman.


Jesse Lopez, a native of Corpus Christi, Texas, follows a Facebook page titled, “Latinos/Hispanics for Donald Trump,” which has garnered 15,700 “likes.”

As a 20-year Navy veteran who was part of a small liaison unit that worked in San Ysidro, Lopez said he witnessed many of the border crimes Trump refers to, among them coyotes smuggling unauthorized immigrants into the United States.

“What he says and stands for ... this is like a revolution of Americans taking our country back,” he said.

Toni Villaescusa Huebner, who grew up in Los Angeles, says she sees Trump as a job creator.


“Trump has vowed to try to bring back, keep and grow jobs. It’s as simple as that. Ironically, Trump has been unfairly accused of being prejudice; however, Trump is the key to improving race relations by his stand of improving the U.S. economy,” she said in an email.

In San Diego, churches and other places of worship have also introduced new voter engagement efforts in order to reach potential voters.

At the gathering at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Barrio Logan last week, community members discussed the value of citizenship. The lecture is part of a series, “A Faith that Does Justice,” which features discussions exploring social justice topics.

The program, led by Rev. Peter Gyves, has begun an initiative to encourage Latinos to apply for citizenship, to register to vote, or to pledge to vote in November. The church plans to set up a table after Mass each Sunday so parishioners can register to vote, and monthly citizenship workshops are planned.


“Voting is power. By increasing voter participation in Barrio Logan and throughout San Diego, we can elect leaders and support legislation that addresses our needs. We need to lift our voices,” Gyves said.

tatiana.sanchez@sduniontribune.com