On a Wednesday morning in the Mission District, a classroom filled with middle-aged and elderly Latinx men and women begins their journey towards U.S. citizenship.
The ambiance is that of determination, as an instructor named Jake Simons leads the class of around 20 students, asking questions that will prepare them for the rigorous citizenship exam.
“Do you support the Constitution?” Simons prompts, repeating it in Spanish, “¿Qué decimos?” The students respond in unison, creating a ripple of support and camaraderie in the room.
Simons, who serves as the associate director at Centro Latino de San Francisco and manages its naturalization program, teaches three days a week.
In his class, students engage with worksheets that feature civic practice questions like, “Who is in charge of the executive branch?” and “What is the capital of the United States?”
They are all preparing for a crucial 10-question civics exam, knowing they need to answer at least six correctly to pass.
Exhibiting a typical classroom dynamic, the students joke, whisper advice to each other during practice, but their eagerness to learn shines through.
When Simons poses the question, “Why do you want to become a U.S. citizen?” Flora Billalta, a Salvadoran immigrant, answers emphatically.
“I want my vote to count,” she states in English, having learned about Centro Latino’s classes from a friend.
Since starting her studies in March, Billalta has not missed a class, realizing the importance of the lessons that infuse her with newfound knowledge.
“Initially, I was going some days and not others. But later, I said, ‘No, this is interesting,’ because I saw that I was actually learning,” she shared in Spanish.
As she waits for a date for her citizenship test, Billalta feels relief that she has submitted her naturalization application.
However, a sense of urgency looms as changes to the citizenship test are set to be implemented soon. Beginning on October 20, the exam will feature double the questions, increasing the number from 10 to 20 and requiring eight correct answers to pass.
Simons encourages his students to submit their applications promptly, stressing, “Even if they are not ‘100 percent prepared,’ it’s better to submit sooner rather than later.”
Francisco Herrera, another student, is taking a different approach.
After attending classes for a year, he plans to study for at least another year before submitting his application, as he strives to improve his reading and writing skills in both Spanish and English.
Herrera, who had limited access to education in El Salvador and started working at the age of six, cites his two children back home as a motivation.
His aspirations include traveling freely between El Salvador and the United States, utilizing his citizenship to apply for his sons’ residency.
He acknowledges the upcoming changes to the exam add to his anxiety.
“It worries me even more,” he confesses in Spanish. “I don’t know how I’m going to do it, but I want to become a citizen.”
At Centro Latino, the interest in citizenship courses is on the rise.
In the 2023-2024 fiscal year, 300 individuals registered for the free citizenship course, and for the 2024-2025 year, that number surged to 400.
Other citizenship programs also report increased enrollment. Glen Olson, teaching at Centro Latino and managing citizenship education at the Immigration Institute of the Bay Area, mentions student interest doubled in the latter half of 2024.
“Students come to us with this goal that’s very important for them. We really want to make sure we honor that goal,” Olson remarks.
Aurelia Ramirez, originally from Yucatán, Mexico, attended evening classes at Centro Latino for four weeks before taking her citizenship test.
Upon hearing the examiner declare she passed, her disbelief turned to joy.
On May 1, 2025, she became a U.S. citizen, celebrating her achievement during National Citizenship Day at City Hall, where she inspired others with her speech.
Her message was simple and powerful: “Just do it.”
“It’s my dream to become a citizen. I always show up, even on days I don’t want to anymore,” Herrera reflects.
“I have to make the effort. I have to keep trying. We’ll see what happens one day.”
image source from：missionlocal
