New Ad Campaign Encourages US Citizenship

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The federal government is running a national advertising campaign to encourage more immigrants to become U.S. citizens.

Citizenship and Immigration Services said Wednesday the multilingual effort aims to reach roughly 7.9 million immigrants who are eligible to file applications to naturalize.

The campaign in print, radio and digital media will start May 30 and run through Labor Day.

Citizenship and Immigration Services spokeswoman Mariana Gitomer says it is the first time the agency has launched a paid advertising campaign for citizenship.

Immigration experts say many immigrants don't apply for citizenship because they fear they don't speak English well enough or because they haven't felt a pressing need to do so.

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