With Elections Just Six Weeks Away,
Leahy Again Calls On Administration To Process Citizenship Applications

 

Thousands Could Be Kept From The Voting Booth Due To Backlogs

 

WASHINGTON (Thursday, September 25, 2008) – Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) renewed his call Thursday for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to expedite work to process the thousands of citizenship applications and associated background checks still awaiting review before the November 4 elections.  Applicants whose paperwork is not finalized in time to meet state voter registration deadlines could be kept from casting ballots in the historical presidential election, and lending their voices to state and local ballot proposals.

 

“No one who has been here, working hard, following the law, who has applied for citizenship more than six months ago, ought to be denied participation in the upcoming presidential election because the Homeland Security bureaucracy has been too slow to process his or her application,” said Leahy.

 

Leahy has long pressed DHS and FBI officials, who conduct name checks as part of the application process, to step up work to address the backlogs.  On Sept. 17, Leahy, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, pressed FBI Director Robert Mueller about the status of the estimated 10,000 pending applications.  In March, Leahy led a successful effort to include an amendment in the budget resolution to create a reserve fund for legislation to provide for the timely adjudication of citizenship applications and FBI name checks.  The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in 2007 announced an 80 percent fee increase for citizenship applications, which prompted a flood of applicants to submit their paperwork before the new, higher fees were implemented.

 

Leahy also wrote to DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff in November 2007, requesting monthly updates on DHS progress in processing more than 1.4 million applications received between October 2006 and September 2007.  In March, Leahy joined Sens. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) in requesting information about the scope of the application backlog in advance of Chertoff’s April 2 testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee.  Since that time, the Senate Judiciary Committee has received detailed reports on the agency’s progress and has monitored the administration’s progress closely. 

 

Republican opposition stalled Senate consideration of comprehensive immigration reform in June 2007.  The same Republican opposition has made even the passage of simple extensions for important existing immigration programs difficult, including an extension for the EB-5 Regional Center pilot program, and a program to allow foreign citizens to work on behalf of religious organizations in the United States.  In March, Leahy introduced legislation to make permanent the EB-5 program, which was first created in 1993.  The program attracts foreign investment, creating jobs and bringing money into local, state and regional economies.

 

“I hope that as a new administration takes office and begins to help this nation rise above the divisiveness, corruption, and failures of the last eight years, we can renew our commitment to immigration reform,” Leahy said.  “The answer does not lie in policies based on fear or isolationism, but in a restoration of America’s rightful role in the world. It does not lie in denying children the opportunity for an education.  It does not lie in denying American farmers and small business owners willing workers, nor does it lie in exploiting foreign labor to disadvantage even American workers.  And the answer does not lie in raiding workplace after workplace, tearing apart families, or building walls along our borders.”

 

The full text of Leahy’s statement follows.

 

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Statement Of Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.),
Chairman, Senate Judiciary Committee,

On Citizenship Application Backlogs

September 25, 2008

 

Following Republican opposition to the Senate’s effort to pass a comprehensive immigration bill last summer, President Bush and other Republicans moved on and away from this admirable goal.  They chose, instead, to accommodate the most extreme views in their party with respect to immigration.  Secretary Chertoff turned to mass immigration raids and building border walls that have consumed millions of taxpayer dollars, tread on the rights of property owners along the southern border, scarred the environment and tarnished the reputation of the United States around the world.  

 

One aspect of the immigration debate on which I have continued to press this year is the backlog in citizenship applications.  Last year, the administration insisted on a fee increase for citizenship applications and assured us it would cut processing time if authorized.  That increase, along with the increased enforcement activities, and an impending presidential election, combined to result in a surge in citizenship applications.  In just three months, May, June, and July of 2007, the immigration agency received over 700,000 citizenship applications.  By last October, the agency had over one million citizenship applications pending, and a significant backlog had developed.  Yet the administration did little.  Its response reminded me of its preparations for Hurricane Katrina or the current financial meltdown.  The anticipated surge in applications was not adequately planned for but resulted in a crisis before the administration would begin to notice.  

 

In early 2008, Senator Kennedy and I pressed Secretary Chertoff. We joined, along with Senator Schumer, in writing to the Homeland Security Secretary about this problem in advance of our April 2008 oversight hearing. 

 

At the April hearing, I asked Secretary Chertoff for a firm commitment that persons who had applied for U.S. citizenship by March 31, 2008, would have their applications processed in time to register and vote in the upcoming presidential election.  Seven months should have been adequate to consider these applications, especially when the agency had sold the increase in fees to us by saying it would cut processing time to less than seven months. 

 

When Secretary Chertoff sought to excuse his delays by blaming the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for being slow to clear name checks, we made sure to provide the FBI with additional resources. 

 

At our most recent FBI oversight hearing with Director Mueller last week, I continued to raise the issue.  At one point, the backlog in citizenship applications was one million. By this spring, it was still nearly half a million.  After the most recent oversight hearing, we were told that it has been significantly reduced and now numbers in the tens of thousands.  I thank the agents at the FBI and U.S. Customs and Immigration Services (USCIS) for their hard work.   

 

The monthly updates we demanded have been helpful not only to us, but apparently also to encourage progress within the agency. That is, of course, still too many.  No one who has been here, working hard, following the law, who has applied for citizenship more than six months ago, ought to be denied participation in the upcoming presidential election because the Homeland Security bureaucracy has been too slow to process his or her application. 

 

Now is the time for the agency to make a final push to process the remaining backlog of applications by the end of this month so that lawful immigrants will have time to register and will be able to vote.  It is unacceptable that tens of thousands of people, some of whom have been waiting for two years to have their applications processed, will be left in limbo and unable to participate as citizens during the elections in November. So there is still significant work to do.

 

The Senate took an important step Wednesday night when it passed S. 2840, the Military Personnel Citizenship Processing Act.  I am pleased the Senate has given its unanimous support to this legislation. 

 

This bill is intended to help the Department of Homeland Security and USCIS expedite citizenship applications for members of the Armed Forces by creating a liaison with the FBI and by setting processing deadlines for these applications.  Those who serve in our military and who wish to become citizens do not deserve to experience unnecessary bureaucratic delays.  Their dedication to the United States, and their desire to become full participants in the democracy they help defend, ought to be met with a process that is as fair and efficient as possible. 

 

The legislation the Senate passed last night will help to streamline the citizenship process for the legal permanent residents who have served the country they wish to call their own.  I hope that this legislation will help move Congress toward seeking additional improvements in the citizenship process for everyone.  The granting of citizenship is one of the most sacred privileges our Nation conveys, and only comes to those who have worked hard to achieve it.  Ensuring that it is carried out with care and efficiency is a goal all members of congress should support. 

 

I thank Senators Schumer and Hagel for successfully moving this legislation through the Senate, and thank all Senators for supporting this measure. 

 

I want to commend Senator Kennedy, Senator Schumer and the other members of the Judiciary Committee who have worked with me all year in our oversight effort to ensure that the citizenship application backlog of one million would be eradicated.  Senator Kennedy, in particular, is someone who has been unrelenting in his focus on this issue and characteristically fought for fairness, dignity and the rights of those least powerful among us.  Senator Kennedy is our longtime chairman of the Immigration subcommittee, and has led the Senate on immigration matters for years. He asked me to express his appreciation to USCIS for its progress in clearing up the backlog in naturalization applications that otherwise would have deprived over a million eligible citizens the opportunity to participate in our democracy during this fall’s election. He asked me to say that the right to vote is the most precious right that American citizens have.  He welcomes these new Americans, and he urges them to go to the polls this November. 

 

I hope that as a new administration takes office and begins to help this nation rise above the divisiveness, corruption, and failures of the last eight years, we can renew our commitment to immigration reform.   The answer does not lie in policies based on fear or isolationism, but in a restoration of America’s rightful role in the world. It does not lie in denying children the opportunity for an education.  It does not lie in denying American farmers and small business owners willing workers, nor does it lie in exploiting foreign labor to disadvantage American workers.  And the answer does not lie in raiding workplace after workplace, tearing apart families, or building walls along our borders. 

 

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