Jan 28, 2008 9:13 am US/Central
Citizenship Applicants Protest Delays In Dallas
DALLAS (AP) ―
More than 100 legal residents waiting to become U.S. citizens protested delays in processing their applications outside the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office Monday, the same day the agency's director visited Dallas.
Most of the 150 people at the rally wore T-shirts that said: "We waited in line. We followed the rules. Citizenship 07-04-08. Don't break the promise."
Citizenship and Immigration Services officials say a surge in citizenship applications last summer is causing some who applied for naturalization to wait up to 18 months, more than twice the national average of seven months. Many of the protesters worried the delay would keep them from naturalizing in time to register to vote in the November presidential election.
"I would like for the process to become more agile so we can vote," said Susan Navarro, of Las Cruces, N.M., who applied for citizenship in July.
"We want our voices to be heard."
On Monday, Gonzalez told reporters applicants should be patient, and that obtaining citizenship is a complicated process involving background checks and testing of candidates.
"All I can say is that we still haven't had the elections. There is still a lot of time left ... if for some reason they don't get the opportunity to vote in this election, there will be plenty of other elections to vote in," Gonzalez said in Spanish, responding to a reporter's question.
The agency saw a 350 percent jump in citizenship applications in July 2007 -- just before naturalization fees rose dramatically -- compared to the same time the previous year.
Citizenship and Immigration Services is trying to add employees. The agency is contacting some 500 retired adjudicators about temporarily returning to work. The agency also has doubled the class size of immigration officer training from 24 to 48, Gonzalez said.
Despite the lag time in some parts of the country, the agency has a goal of concluding 930,000 naturalization applications this year, said Michael Aytes, the agency's assistant director for domestic operations.
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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