Four CAIR-Chicago Clients Gain Citizenship Following Delays October 8, 2007 By Sandy Abdallah “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, the tempest-tost to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door.” That message, engraved on the Statue of Liberty, once called out to immigrants with open arms. Today, immigrants are finding it tougher and tougher to get through the basic immigration process. CAIR-Chicago has been at the forefront of working on such cases and is pleased to announce that four clients have recently been sworn in as citizens of the U.S. Increased Citizenship Delays Acquiring citizenship is becoming more challenging as citizenship delays reach an all-time high. By law, the average time between the final steps of the immigration process and naturalization is 120 days. However, even after successfully going through the standard process, an increasing number of cases are delayed for as much as three years without reason. The American government has provided the explanation that heightened security measures have led to a longer, more complex immigration and naturalization procedure. New Citizens All Faced Years of Delays One of CAIR-Chicago’s oldest clients applied for citizenship in December 2004. Although he was a U.S. resident for six years and successfully completed the naturalization interview and passed the exam, his application was delayed well beyond the 120-day mark by almost three years. He turned to CAIR-Chicago in August 2005 after receiving no explanation for the prolonged state of ambiguity. His case was filed in federal court by July 2006, and the only stated reason for the continued delay was attributed to a “background check clearance.” By the end of May 2007, a hearing date was set for September 27. Two days prior to the scheduled hearing, he was suddenly given clearance for citizenship. "It is sad that this client not only had to wait years for adjudication, but he also had to be burdened with filing a lawsuit only to find that there was nothing to justify the wait," said CAIR-Chicago Attorney Bitta Mostofi. In a similar case, about two years after successful completion of the citizenship exam in early 2004, another client turned to CAIR-Chicago. A case was filed on his behalf, followed by settlement negotiations with opposing council. The case was resolved on September 25, 2007. Soon after, two more CAIR-Chicago clients were sworn in after similar delays ranging from two to three years. CAIR-Chicago Files Class Action Suit Faced with an increasing number of citizenship delay cases, CAIR-Chicago filed a class action suit in January 2007. Unreasonable citizenship delays remains an inefficient process since applicants are neither accepted nor rejected, but kept in a state of uncertainty for years. Many of these applicants have been residents of the U.S. for at least five years. In order to force a resolution, many applicants have been compelled to sue the government, allowing resolutions only on a costly case by case basis. Today, the welcome message engraved at Ellis Island remains unfulfilled pending a lasting solution to the unreasonable citizenship delays by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS). Copyright © 2007 CAIR-Chicago --- Contact: communications@cairchicago.org