Judiciary Chairman Leahy Hits Administrative Errors

That Are Producing Mounting Naturalization Application Backlogs,

Which Threaten To Disenfranchise Many For The 2008 Elections

 

WASHINGTON (Friday, Nov. 30) – Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) Friday called for the Department of Homeland Security to invest the resources needed to reduce the backlog of naturalization applications received since October 2006.  More than 1.4 million applications have been received in the last year.  Over the summer, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) increased application fees, spurring a surge in applications which the agency was not prepared to process.  It is estimated that naturalization applications filed after June 1, 2007, will have to wait 16 to 18 months for processing, threatening the right of successful applicants to vote in the November presidential election.

 

PDF of letter available here.

 

November 30, 2007

 

The Honorable Michael Chertoff

Secretary

Department of Homeland Security

Washington, DC 20528

 

Dear Secretary Chertoff:

 

I am concerned about the severe backlog of naturalization applications at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).  Left unaddressed, this backlog will likely result in thousands of applicants being denied the right to vote in next year’s elections.  It is unacceptable that so many individuals, who have worked hard and followed the law, may be disenfranchised in the upcoming elections.

 

It has been reported that the agency received 1.4 million applications between October 2006 and September 2007, precipitated in part by USCIS’ recent fee increase.  It has also been reported that it is taking USCIS five months or more merely to acknowledge receipt of an application, and that legal, permanent residents who filed naturalization applications after June 1, 2007, are likely to have to wait 16 to 18 months for their applications to be considered.  This is unacceptable.  It is difficult to understand how DHS and USCIS failed to anticipate and plan for the applications.  It is especially troubling after officials at USCIS assured Members of Congress that your recent fee increase was supposed to improve efficiency and customer service.   Like Hurricane Katrina and the implementation of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative’s (WHTI) air rule, it appears that officials at the Department of Homeland Security have once again been caught off guard and unprepared for foreseeable consequences, this time due to your fee increase. 

 

I was also troubled to read that USCIS Director Emilio Gonzalez, who expressed a desire to resolve the backlog ahead of the national elections, has been publicly contradicted by officials at your agency.  I hope that you share Director Gonzalez’s concern and mine.  There should be an urgency to resolve the backlog now.  I urge DHS to commit all resources necessary to resolve this situation, as the State Department did this summer to address the passport backlog brought about by the WHTI.

 

Please inform me of the plans you have for resolving this backlog and provide a monthly update so that we can measure your progress in reducing the backlog.  I would like to know the number of pending naturalization applications and the number that have been pending for more than six months.   

 

Sincerely,

 

 

 

PATRICK LEAHY

Chairman