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Feb 26, 2008 9:33 pm US/Central
N. Texans Suing Fed For Violating Immigration Laws
Reporting
Jack Fink
DALLAS (CBS 11 / TXA 21) ―
Three North Texas residents accuse the federal government of violating immigration laws.
The men are from the Middle East and are now suing, claiming their applications for naturalization have been delayed for years.
Aymen Alasad, a native of Jordan who now lives in Arlington, accuses the federal government of failing to timely process his application to become a permanent resident alien.
"Doesn't make sense to me. It will take a year, two... after September 11, I can understand," said Alasad. "But it's been seven years."
He's now suing the Department of Citizenship and Immigration Services, which oversees naturalization and other federal agencies.
Alasad is not alone. Hicham Salloum and Hasan Hajmohammad are also suing the government.
Salloum, a native of Lebanon now living in Las Colinas, said he's been waiting for permanent residency status for four years. But he said the Federal Aviation Administration cleared him to work with import/export firms at DFW Airport.
"If they say you're clear, then you're good to go on the airplanes," said Salloum. "I haven't done anything wrong. So that means I don't have anything in my record, so why won't they clear my name?"
Hajmohammad, a native of Jordan living in Irving, has also waited four years to become a citizen. He claims the U.S. is unfairly making the process difficult for Muslims.
"We really believe in the system, but the way they are treating Muslims at this time, they are just clearly discriminating against them," said Hajmohammad.
Officials with the Department Citizenship and Immigration Services deny the allegation.
While a spokeswoman can't comment on these lawsuits, she acknowledges there has been a backlog of cases nationwide, because it has taken a long time to fully investigate a person's background.
"Unfortunately, we are stuck in this situation," said Marilu Cabrera, a spokesperson for the department. "We have to do background checks. We owe it to the American people to make sure everyone we naturalize is of a good moral character and will not do us harm."
The government has just recently changed its procedures and will approve applications within 180 days, unless it finds a problem. If problems arise later, the government will deport the individual.
The attorney for the three men, Husein Abdelhadi of Dallas, said lawsuits sometimes speed up the process, but shouldn't be necessary.
"If a person is a terrorist or a threat to the security of the U.S., why are you letting them live here," he said. "Wouldn't you want to know immediately if this person is a threat or not?"
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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