WASHINGTON -- More than half the people naturalized as U.S. citizens in Greater Miami last year came from Cuba -- and more than a third of all foreigners who got U.S. citizenship in Florida were Cubans, according to new statistics from the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

The INS also recorded a quadrupling in the number of people naturalized in Florida -- 123,368, up from 31,372 in 1995.

Experts attribute the naturalization surge to the Citizenship USA program, which shortened the wait for naturalization; anti-immigrant sentiment; and legislation that threatened to cut welfare benefits to noncitizens.

After Congress uncovered flaws in the Citizenship USA program last year, including the fact that some criminals were slipping through background checks, the INS lengthened the period people must wait for citizenship -- and imposed greater safeguards on the process.

Florida ranked third in all 1996 naturalizations after California with 378,014 new citizens and New York with 159,428 citizens among the 1,044,689 people naturalized from Oct. 1, 1995, to Sept. 30, 1996.

On the state level, 52,753 Cubans were naturalized in Florida, the bulk of the 62,168 Cubans naturalized across the country. Haitians were the second-largest group to obtain citizenship in Florida, 10,036 of all 24,556 Haitians naturalized in the United States.

Dade naturalizations totaled 85,206 according to INS figures, with the bulk -- 47,702 -- coming from Cuba.

Broward County recorded one-fifth as many naturalizations, or 16,095 new citizens in the Greater Fort Lauderdale area. The most of any single group, or 3,227, came from Jamaica.

The figures also show that Cuban arrivals continued to soar. Some 26,466 Cubans were admitted to the United States in 1996, compared with 17,937 in 1995, 14,727 in 1994 and 13,666 in 1993.

Copyright © 1997 The Miami Herald