Immigrant rights groups blast citizenship processing backlog

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services bureau has failed in its efforts to reduce massive backlogs in processing applications for citizenship, according to a report card released Monday by a coalition of immigrant rights groups.

In the report card, issued by a range of organizations, the Bush administration received an A for its rhetoric on immigrants and an F for failing to decrease backlogs while also proposing to increase processing fees. The coalition gave Bush and USCIS, a Homeland Security Department agency, an "incomplete" for its efforts to revamp the test given to immigrants seeking naturalization, but warned that if the plan goes ahead as scheduled, as many as 10 percent of those who take the test will fail.

The coalition includes groups such as the New York Immigration Coalition, the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center, the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, and the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles.

On Monday, Jeanne Butterfield, executive director of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said that the backlogs and processing delays for immigrants seeking to become citizens and lawful permanent residents have reached "unprecedented levels." About 6.2 million petitions await adjudication, while the waiting time for naturalization now approaches three years.

"Congress and the administration must accept their share of the blame," Butterfield added.

The Bush administration has proposed a nearly $100 million cut in the funding USCIS receives to try reduce the backlogs. The agency will receive $235 million this year, but only $140 million in 2005 under the administration's plan. Part of the cutback would be recovered by increases in processing fees. An immigrant filing an application for naturalization, for example, would pay $320 under the proposal. The current fee is $260.

The advocates also said that the division of the old Immigration and Naturalization Service into three parts--one bureau for investigations within the United States, one for the border, and one for the adjudication of immigration applications--has given investigators license to harass immigrants.

"We've seen a reluctance to engage in dialogue with local community organizations," Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, said of the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement bureau, the enforcement wing of DHS. "They've become more independent and aggressive in their dealings with the immigrant community."

In some cases, Salas said, immigrants are picked up by investigators and charged with being in the country illegally, when they are actually waiting for adjudication of a petition for citizenship or permanent residence. A lack of communication between the two bureaus is a problem, she said.

Fred Tsao, immigration and citizenship director of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, said he was working with USCIS to overhaul its proposal for revamping the test that all applicants for citizenship must take. The proposal aims to gauge more accurately an immigrant's command of English and of American culture and government. But Tsao said "at least 10 percent of applicants would have trouble with the formats" that the agency is proposing.