WASHINGTON — For 13 years Rafael Cohen, an immigrant from
Mexico, was eligible to become a citizen of the United States.
But something held him back. “I guess I felt I was maintaining
more of a connection to my Mexican citizenship by remaining a
green card holder than actually becoming a citizen,” said Cohen,
36, a musician who moved to the District of Columbia when he was
9 and became a permanent resident in 1994. Finally, the birth of
his daughter last year persuaded him to apply. “Some of the
immigration laws that are in place . . . there’s these weird
situations where you can be deported as a green card holder,” he
said. As lawmakers wrangle over reforms that could offer a path
to citizenship to many of the estimated 11 million immigrants
who are here illegally, not all immigrants who become eligible
actually go through with naturalization. Often, the immigrant
journey simply ends with permanent legal residency. In 2011, 61
percent of eligible immigrants became citizens, according to a
recent study by the