CAIR-Chicago Takes Action to Expedite Muslim Men’s Naturalization Process

CHICAGO, Sep. 28, 2011—The Chicago Office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Chicago) recently filed two complaints on behalf of Middle-Eastern men who alleged the USCIS has unlawfully delayed the processing of their citizenship applications.  This year CAIR-Chicago received 18 complaints regarding delays in the citizenship process.

One applicant was born in Yemen, resides in Illinois and applied for citizenship in October 2009.  He was interviewed in February of 2010.

Another candidate who is also a resident of Illinois was born in Syria.  His application was processed in April, 2010 and he gave his citizenship test in November 2010.

Both of them received letters stating they have passed the tests, but that the applications are under additional review.

If a candidate passes the Citizenship Test, the United States law mandates USCIS to naturalize applicants within 120 days.

CAIR-Chicago has incorporated these cases into its Citizenship Delay Project and filed complaints on September 7, 2011 and September16, 2011, respectively.

In 2010, 22 Muslims attained citizenship through CAIR-Chicago’s intervention.  In the past four years, 494 such reports have been received by the organization, out of which 317 cases have been solved.