The newest Americans.

• Position: GRAPH: NATIONAL

Each year, hundreds of thousands of immigrants become naturalized U.S. citizens (see article, page 14). It's a door to citizenship that opened in 1790, when the nation's first Naturalization Act allowed citizenship for "free, white persons" who had lived in the U.S. for two years or more. Through the years, the requirements for U.S. naturalization have changed significantly-and, largely because of shifting immigration laws and patterns, so have the national origins of those who have sought citizenship.

Analyze the graph

(1) Most of the top-five countries of origin for naturalized citizens In 1960 were in --.

a the Americas

b Asia

c Europe

d Africa

(2) In 1960, about 119,000 people became naturalized U.S. citizens. Approximately what percentaqe of them came from Germany?

a 5 percent

b 16 percent

c 24 percent

d 30 percent

(3) In 2012, the number of naturalized U.S. citizens from the Dominican Republic was about -- the number from Mexico.

a one-quarter

b one-third

c half

d equal to

(4) You can infer from the qraphs that compared with 1960, 2012 brought more naturalizations --.

a overall

b of people from Asia

c of people from Latin America

d all of the above

(5) You can Infer that Italy does not appear on the 2012 graph because --.

a it was not one of the top-five countries of origin for that year

b no one from Italy was naturalized

c it is not an Asian country

d it was listed for 1960 instead

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

(1) The number of years that a person must have lived in the U.S. to qualify for naturalization has historically ranged from 2 to 14. (It Is currently 5 in most cases.) What do...