CHICAGO — Elena and Esteban Salgado have been living in the U.S. for more than 30 years. This year, they decided, would be the year they vote.

“We want to become citizens so we can vote against Trump,” Esteban Salgado, 57, said through a Spanish interpreter.

The River Forest couple, originally from Mexico, have had green cards for 20 years, meaning they've been eligible for citizenship for 15. They've had busy lives: They both work at a Whole Foods Market, and they've raised four children in the U.S.

“We never had a chance to become citizens,” Esteban Salgado said.

But this year's election has struck a chord with immigrants. Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump may not be the only reason for rising interest in citizenship, but he's a major one. Trump has frequently lambasted U.S. immigration practices, promising to be strict on borders, deport those who are here illegally and end the use of specialty work visas. He launched his campaign in June accusing Mexican immigrants of being drug dealers, criminals and rapists.

“He's racist, and he speaks very badly about Mexicans,” Elena Salgado, 51, said. “It shouldn't be like this. . It is true that there's a lot of people who come here and do bad things but not all people do, and for some who do bad things, the rest of us have to pay.”

About 8.8 million immigrants throughout the U.S. are eligible for citizenship, about 350,000 in Illinois. The Salgados are part of a surge in residents hoping to become naturalized in time for the November election.

And this is crunch time. The naturalization process, from turning in the first application to the final swearing-in ceremony, takes five to six months, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

“We have seen an increase of people trying to vote for the first time,” said Dagmara Avelar, a coordinator with the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. “What we've been seeing in these intake questionnaires is that there's a definite mention of the anti-immigrant rhetoric (of the election). . They feel an attack on the immigrant community is an attack on them.”

The coalition and other Chicago-based immigrant advocacy groups said many permanent residents have come to them asking how to get to the polls. From January to March, the Illinois coalition helped 913 people apply for citizenship, Avelar said.