Mexico City, December 9 (teleSUR-RHC)-- The Mexican government has proposed a plan to raise some $5 billion to facilitate millions of Mexicans who reside in the United States gain U.S. citizenship, according to news reports on Tuesday.

“We are working on financial support. We are talking with the financial community to have the necessary resources. We are estimating between US$3.5 billion and US$5 billion to be made available to the compatriots,” stated the Mexican Ambassador to the U.S. Miguel Basanez.

According to the ambassador, no public money will be needed but rather the government will try to get the funds from “private sources,” such as banks.
    
The funds would be specifically used to provide financial support to help Mexicans who are currently permanent residents of the U.S. transfer over and become naturalized citizens.

According to the Department of Homeland Security, there are more than 2.6 million Mexicans who are currently permanent residents of the U.S., who have chosen not to convert into full fledged citizens.

Basanez said the Mexican government is also working to convince Mexicans living in the U.S. of the advantages of having U.S. citizenship, including access to better jobs, health care, schools and higher incomes, and would also give them the right to vote.
      
Mexico's decision to facilitate the naturalization process comes just one year before the 2016 U.S. presidential elections, in which the Latino vote is an integral deciding factor in many states, reported Reforma.

According to a report by the Institute for Latino Studies, Mexican immigrants delay the naturalization process longer and have the lowest rate of citizenship that most other nationalities residing in the U.S.

Some of the main reasons why Mexican immigrants do not seek out citizenship is that they either do not want it or consider it important, they do not plan on staying in the U.S., they do not speak English or have enough information, or due to the high cost of the naturalization process, explained local media reports.