Citizenship

Rennison Vern Castillo thought his legal troubles were nearly over at the end of a jail stay for harassing his ex-girlfriend. But then a U.S. immigration hold order blocked his release. "They think you're here illegally," a jailhouse guard said to him. Castillo, mystified, insisted it was all a mistake. Though born in Belize, he had come of age in South Los Angeles, spoke fluent English, served a stint in the Army and had become an American citizen about seven years earlier.

Looking more like a student than a soldier, the young Indian in jeans and a T-shirt snapped his heels together and stood at attention in front of an American flag. He raised his right hand and pledged to defend the United States against all enemies. The enlistment ceremony earlier this month at a military center near Los Angeles International Airport took less than five minutes. With that, he became the 101st person in Los Angeles to join the Army under a program that significantly increases the number of immigrants eligible to serve.

A leading California foundation plans today to announce a broad campaign to help Los Angeles immigrants become more active citizens with a new $3.75-million, five-year program to help them learn English, improve job skills and increase civic participation. The California Community Foundation in Los Angeles also is set to release a 75-page report that documents the essential and dynamic role immigrants play in the regional economy and suggests ways to help them become even more productive.

The conductor Daniel Barenboim, already a contentious figure among fellow Israelis for championing Palestinians' rights and the works of Hitler's favorite composer, has accepted honorary Palestinian citizenship. Barenboim was given citizenship a year ago, but the move didn't become public until this past weekend, when a Palestinian lawmaker mentioned it after Barenboim held a performance in the West Bank city of Ramallah. The Argentine-born conductor is the first Israeli to be granted citizenship by the Palestinian Authority.

More than 1 million immigrants became U.S. citizens last year, the largest surge in history, hastening the ethnic transformation of California's political landscape with more Latinos and Asians now eligible to vote. Leading the wave, California's 300,000 new citizens accounted for nearly one-third of the nation's total and represented a near-doubling over 2006, according to a recent report by the U.S. Office of Immigration Statistics.

The College Board is supporting legislation that would offer some undocumented youths a path to citizenship through college or the military. The association best known for the SAT and AP tests it administers is stepping into the contentious issue for the first time, just as President Obama is signaling that he may encourage lawmakers to overhaul immigration laws this year. The board's trustees have voted unanimously to support the legislation, known as the Dream Act.

The attack on the Los Angeles Police Department's Special Order 40 -- which limits when officers can ask about the citizenship status of suspects -- has come largely but not exclusively from anti-illegal-immigration forces. But now the order has a new and potentially potent foe: the family of Jamiel Shaw Jr., the Los Angeles High football star who was killed last month. Police have charged a gang member who was in the country illegally with Shaw's slaying. Jamiel Shaw Sr.

Thousands of children in China are unable to attend school or obtain the privileges of citizenship because their mothers are North Korean refugees, Human Rights Watch said Sunday. Large numbers of women who fled famine in North Korea came to China and entered relationships with Chinese men, and although these couples live as man and wife, the unions are not recognized by Chinese law and the children go unregistered.

Christina Lucatero Diaz, born in Mexico, wants to become an officer in the U.S. Navy. But by law, officers must be U.S. citizens, so she was ineligible -- until Monday. When she was 6, her family crossed the border in search of a better life, settling in Riverside. But after almost 20 years in the United States, four years rising in the enlisted ranks of the Navy, a year of paperwork and a special Pentagon ceremony, Diaz is closer to her goal. More than 30,000 noncitizens are serving in the U.

Overwhelmed by a flood of citizenship applications, some immigration offices in Southern California are staying open on weekends to get though a backlog of more than 180,000 people hoping to become U.S. citizens. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office in Anaheim is doing naturalization interviews on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday interviews are also available at the East Los Angeles and San Bernardino offices.