More Mexicans become U.S. citizens

LOS ANGELES, July 10 (UPI) -- The number of Mexicans becoming U.S. citizens increased by 50 percent last year while the total number of naturalized citizens fell, U.S. officials said.

The number of Mexicans who became citizens rose to 122,000 in 2007 -- up from 83,000 in 2006, the Los Angeles Times reported Thursday. Citing a report issued by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the newspaper said California and Texas recorded the largest increases in the number of Mexicans becoming U.S. citizens last year.

The increase nationwide was largely attributable to two main factors, officials said -- anticipated increases in fees for citizenship applications and stepped-up efforts by Spanish-language media and grass-roots organizations to promote citizenship,

The number of naturalized citizens in 2007 fell by 6 percent from the previous year, the report said. However, the number of citizenship applications filed with the office of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services was up sharply -- 730,000 in 2006 to 1.3 million last year.