THE ISSUE:
Today, over 1.8 million people who are eligible for U.S.
citizenship suffer interminable delays waiting for their
naturalization applications to be processed.
BACKGROUND:
The 105th Congress began to reform the
naturalization process because of both unprecedented demand and
the controversy surrounding INS’s Citizenship USA project.
During Citizenship USA, a very small number of ineligible
applicants (less than 1% according to a recent audit) were
determined to have been naturalized inappropriately.
Notwithstanding this small number, Congress and INS responded by
making it increasingly difficult for all applicants, the vast
majority of whom are law-abiding people, to go through the
process. Heightened scrutiny of all applications and increased
demand for naturalization have slowed the process, leading to an
unprecedented backlog in which almost two million people have
been waiting for an average of two years to become citizens.
Despite a recent
audit concluding that current INS naturalization procedures have
integrity, some Representatives continue to focus on the
integrity of the process, rather than on the eligible, deserving
people who are waiting in the backlog and should be embraced as
new citizens. Legislation (H.R.2837) introduced during the 105th
Congress by Representative Lamar Smith (R-TX) would have further
increased the backlog by making the naturalization process more
bureaucratic and precluding appropriate streamlining (by, for
instance, mandating a personal interview for every case and
requiring more detailed investigations). The legislation also
would have expanded the INS’ ability to denaturalize persons
without court review. Despite vigorous efforts by Representative
Smith, this bill did not clear the House.
In contrast to
the Smith bill, the “New American Citizenship Act" (S.
1717/ H.R. 3341), introduced by Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA and
Representative Dick Gephardt (D-MO), would have articulated a
vision of welcome to immigrants seeking to become citizens and
would have provided an antidote to the negative legislation and
allegations repeatedly raised by opponents of immigration. This
measure also did not clear Congress.
CURRENT
STATUS: In FY 2000, the CSJ bill includes an
appropriation of $124 million to deal with the naturalization
backlog. However, the INS has indicated that, even with these
funds, the agency will face a deficit of about $200 million due
to an expected decrease in the number of petitions filed (with
the backlog discouraging people from filing).