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Immigrants sue U.S. over citizenship delays


SAN FRANCISCO - Eight immigrants who have waited years for their citizenship applications to clear tougher post-9/11 background checks claim in a lawsuit filed Thursday that the delays violate their constitutional rights of due process.

The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco and names the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security among the defendants. It seeks to enforce regulations in which the federal government must act on a citizenship application within 120 days of the applicant's interview.

The eight immigrants cleared traditional criminal background checks and other requirements only to see their applications bogged down by federal immigration officials' process of checking names against an FBI database, the plaintiffs' attorneys said.

"The system is broken, and it's time to fix it," said Maya Harris, executive director of American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, which filed the lawsuit on behalf of the eight immigrants. Also named as plaintiffs are the Asian Law Caucus and the Council on American-Islamic Relations, San Francisco Bay Area Chapter.

The name checks were adopted before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, but only after the attacks did every application go through the process, said Christopher Bentley, spokesman for the U.S. Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services.

The majority of the 35 million background checks the agency runs every year are cleared within nine months, Bentley said. The others require more research and can take years, he said.

Calls to the FBI were not immediately returned.

Bentley defended the rigorous background checks as vital to national security.

"The American public expects that as an agency we won't grant a benefit such as citizenship to someone who is not qualified," he said. "We will not and do not grant any benefits until all background security clearances have been resolved."

One plaintiff, Sana Jalili of Pakistan, applied for citizenship in December 2003. She gave her fingerprints, passed a criminal background check and completed the final interview in September 2004.

Jalili, 26, said she was told she would be naturalized in three months, at most. She's waited almost three years with no conclusion.

"We are continuously told the same message, that my name has gone for a background check," she said. "But how long does it take to complete a simple background check?"

Cecillia D. Wang, senior attorney with the ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project, said a faster approval process would improve national security.

"If there are lawful permanent residents who pose a security risk, the government should discover that quickly and get to the bottom of any possible problems," Wang said.

Three other lawsuits are pending around the country asking the government to act on citizenship applications within 120 days of the last interview.

Immigration officials now conduct name checks before interviews, following the letter of the law but violating applicants' due process rights, said Sin Yen Ling, staff attorney with the Asian Law Caucus.

The suit asks for a time limit for name checks and a speedy review of the plaintiffs' own applications.


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See, it starts even before they get here, they're already crying.

by doing this, they completely fail to understand what it is to be American and should be sent the fuck back.

I disagree on that. I mean these people have left their own countries to be part of another country and have done what is required of them by law. And they still wont recognise them as citizens of the very country they work in and want to spend their lives in and have better lives for their children for in is just simple plain discrimination.

QUOTE(Deepak @ Feb 10 2007, 12:28 AM) I disagree on that. I mean these people have left their own countries to be part of another country and have done what is required of them by law. And they still wont recognise them as citizens of the very country they work in and want to spend their lives in and have better lives for their children for in is just simple plain discrimination.

Yo, Deepak. Long time no hear.

Listen close, because this is not discrimination against any given people, but rather a mentality.

Emigration from an oppression is a right.

Immigration into the U.S. is a privelidge.

These people are having delays in a tightened form of security background check, after the horrific terrorist attacks and threats the U.S. has endured. I am sorry that it has to be this way, but that is it. And then filing a lawsuit for a time limit on background checks for immigrants shows one thing; these immigrants are more concerned with how this serves THEM than how it serves the U.S.

I am sorry but if you try and enforce a worldwide search of people from all over the world, and DO IT RIGHT, it might take some time. If American citizenship is not worth the wait, maybe Canada has room.

You can keep your own leeches, thank you. lol

lol at Kramer.

Raum, I agree that the there has been a devastating event in the states however does that mean that ordinary people will have to wait years and years to actually get what they righfully deserve.

I also understand that is important for them to carry out background checks but these people have been waiting years to get their citzenship. Now some of these people are actually from countries that are plauged by war and have fled to the US only to get a much better way of life, much safer way of life and dont want to to go back to their countries under no circumstance.

This does not mean that they are doing something illegal however they must have exhausted all means of trying to get what is due to them and this might actually be their last option.

Im sad to see this has turned to be out for money but maybe this way they will actually get their citizenship that they have been waiting for years to come by. Its about due process. Agreed that the process of doing background checks will take some time but should it take so much time that people are worried whether they will even get their citizenships at all?

For me, I feel that its more about them being safe and having a much safer way of life then what they have expericned and not giving up on that.

Deepak,

Your heart is getting the better of you. I can see that.

See, we have a policy called "sanctuary." If a person has a fear of their homeland, even if they are here illegally, we will not send them back. This enforced background check is not keeping people from being here.

It is keeping them from being citizens. The reason is simple.

Look at the a$$hats who took over the planes on 9-11. What if they were immigrants who had become American citizens?

We would have Chaos. You could not control the damage that would be done to the morale and security of the American people. WE have to objectively look at WHO is coming to this country.

And I am sorry if someone left Lebanon and hid in France for a while, and show up here with an incomplete personal history. But it would be suicide for America to just grant citizenship without consideration of many political and economic factors.

Do you know that my parents paid money for me to live in my old age, and that security has since been granted to a man whose family never paid into it? We get LOTS of people trying to make it better for their own. But to be an American is more than to be self-serving.

Immigration and illegal residency are sensitive subjects. We need reform, and we need conservative views of who we allow to become American Citizens or guests so we can really assess the situation.


BUT THEN AGAIN-

The notion of the lawsuit as an income is horrendous and has DESTROYED our civil economic structure. Look at how many bull$hit lawsuits cost us tax dollars. If you are ready to sue before you ever commit to our flag, you are in the wrong damn country. As it is, MY TAX DOLLARS are going to waste processing this lawsuit claim.

To you this is a headline, to me this is an expense report on what my tax dollars are paying for.

1. My tax dollars are paying for her visa, her lawyer, the govt lawyers, the paperwork, and much more.

send her back, and give me my money back.

Raum I know what you are saying and I agree with all your points. I do agree that background checks are very important and it may take some time, I also agree that sueing for this may actually be the wrong way to go and tax payer dollars can be used for a much better things.

What im saying is that they just need to have a time period on it. Due process , it must be done in a certain amount of time. I agree that for some people it may take a little while longer then other because they may have incomplete records and such but if people start waiting years and years to get their citizenship when they should be given it is wrong.

I too am sorry that it had to come down to money and I also believe that it is wrong but I dont disagree as to why they did it. If it means that they will be heard and the process will be sped up then Id do it too. And the process can be sped up.

QUOTE(Deepak @ Feb 13 2007, 06:01 PM) Raum I know what you are saying and I agree with all your points. I do agree that background checks are very important and it may take some time, I also agree that sueing for this may actually be the wrong way to go and tax payer dollars can be used for a much better things.

Right, and people who do not understand that have their own interests over the interests of our nation. We need to know what those interests are. Some are seemingly benign, like just making a way for their family. But sometimes that involves or even diminishes the rights and privelidges of other Americans. I do not blame people for coming here. I just don't think people understand what it costs when it adds up; even when it is not done out of malice.

QUOTEWhat im saying is that they just need to have a time period on it. Due process , it must be done in a certain amount of time. I agree that for some people it may take a little while longer then other because they may have incomplete records and such but if people start waiting years and years to get their citizenship when they should be given it is wrong.

If we STATE A DEADLINE all they have to do is evade it. In many unregulated countries, this wuld be very easy. A crooked official could be bribed in, say, an uneasy ally like Pakistan to not resond to an inquiry about a given candidate for citizenship. Then, they are American, and their actions speak much different that those of people who have snuck in. If Immigrants from say Michigan (where a number of Lebanese immigrate) struck with a devastating attack; the attacks against the Lebanese communities in retaliation would be uncontrollable, and many Imam's would use that to recruit others using those attacks as proof "Americans hate Muslims."

Thus, the solution is not a deadline, but a CONDITION. And that means some people who might deserve the privelidge of citizenship may be denied or postponed because they can not meet those conditions.

You are a kiwi, right? As far as your country, the Maori are the hot topic. How many people in the world shout "Death to Wellington!" I almost went to New Zealand, the debate back then in 2000 was whether or not you should have to have your picture on your driver's license. Our world is not that simple, and to he honest, I still wish I had went sometimes, because to me, that is closer to true federal conservatism.

QUOTEI too am sorry that it had to come down to money and I also believe that it is wrong but I dont disagree as to why they did it. If it means that they will be heard and the process will be sped up then Id do it too. And the process can be sped up.

One plaintiff, Sana Jalili of Pakistan, applied for citizenship in December 2003. She gave her fingerprints, passed a criminal background check and completed the final interview in September 2004.

Even if there is a deadline, two years is not long enough.