The data principally reveal the leading role that Mexico plays as a source of legal immigration to the United States ??? over 5 million legal and legalized Mexican immigrants since 1985 ??? and how this immigration has increasingly settled across the countr y over time; how widely the rate at which these immigrants are becoming citizens varies between different regions of the country and even within single states; and consequently the large number ??? perhaps over 3 million ??? of these immigrants who would have been eligible but had not become citizens by the end of 2010.These findings argue for the need to fashion policy and citizenship promotion efforts specifically addressed to un-naturalized immigrants in at least three distinguishable situations: the long-term eligible who may qualify to become citizens under an eased set of testing requirements; Mexican immigrants who have settled in non-traditional and rural areas of the country, at some distance from more established co-ethnic communities; and those immigrants who become newly eligible to apply for citizenship every year, but who may not be fully aware of their eligibility. (Description from Source)
