Legislative Fact Sheet
Citizenship Delays

The Issue

• Federal law provides the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) up to 120 days to accept or reject a particular applicant’s request for US citizenship after the applicant has provided the required documentation, have fingerprints run through a background check and interviewed.

• Since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 a more comprehensive background check, known as a “name check,” a search of FBI records based on the full name of the applicant, is required by USCIS for adjudication of applications for naturalization.

• The backlog resulting from this comprehensive check is leaving law-abiding applicants in a legal limbo, sometimes for years because of the lack of timely processing of applications.

• USCIS has made the unfortunate decision to stop granting citizenship interviews to applicants whose “name checks” have not cleared. Rather than forming a partnership with those who support the long-standing American tradition of granting citizenship to deserving applicants, USCIS’s decision makes the situation with immigration rights advocates more combative.

• At the present time the only recourse left to citizenship delay is to pursue a remedy with the federal court. This leaves access to those who can afford attorney’s while leaving a large number of people to be further marginalized.

What is Being Asked of Members of Congress
CAIR is asking for a hearing in Congress regarding the delays

Reasons to Support
Lawsuits Waste Tax Dollars and Divert the Attention of U.S. Attorneys Away From Criminal Prosecutions

• “U.S. Attorney for Colorado Troy Eid estimated that for the amount of time his staff has devoted this year to defending the FBI, it could “be putting 50 or more bad guys behind bars.” (Denver Post, 12/10/2006)

• ”Hundreds of lawsuits against the FBI and Department of Homeland Security are pending in federal courts nationwide, including class-action cases in California, Illinois and New York, according to judicial records and attorneys.” (Denver Post, 12/10/2006)

• Applicants are seeing that lawsuits get results, encouraging more litigation. A Department of Homeland Security memo reveals that the FBI now considers a “lawsuit pending in Federal Court” as grounds for speeding up stalled background checks.” (Denver Post, 12/10/2006)

If There Are Real Security Concerns About These People, Lengthy Background Checks Do Not Serve the Public Good

• If it is a national security issue, an expedited process or a properly funded program would more quickly identify and remove threats.

• Background checks taking more than 120 days are neither efficient nor good for security.

• People applying for citizenship have already been in the country for at least 5 years.

The FBI Maintains That the Reason For The Delay Is Expanded Requirements To Complete The Background Checks But Limited Resources

• FBI spokespeople routinely say the name check program is understaffed and inadequately funded.

•  “Homeland Security’s Office of the Inspector General wrote in a recent national review of the security check process that the agency “has difficulty creating and retrieving historical records that show what checks were done when.” (San Francisco Chronicle, 12/22/2005)

• In 2004, “advocates estimated that at least 100,000 of the 678,000 immigrants with pending citizenship applications nationwide have been waiting longer than the Bush administration’s six month goal.” (Associated Press, 10/16/2004)

Applicants for Citizenship Have Followed The Rules And Done Everything That Was Asked Of Them; The Government Is Failing Them

• Leaving people in a legal limbo for years is a sad return for the immigrant’s patriotism and belief in America’s democratic values.

• Leaving them in limbo and then putting them in a position where suing is the only way to get resolution is bad management, penalizes them for the government’s failure to address citizenship delays and is expensive for both the new citizens and the government.

Additional Details

• The United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) is the agency with overall responsibility for applications for naturalization.

• The Federal Bureau of Investigation is the agency responsible for conducting background checks on applicants for Naturalization.

• Before the attacks on September 11, USCIS had 3 months to complete a thorough background check on all applicants for citizenship.  After the attacks on September 11, CIS required all applicants to obtain National Security Clearance, in addition to the standard background check it conducted, to obtain citizenship status. 

• National Security Clearance checks are conducted by the FBI.  In addition to the standard fingerprint check, the FBI runs the name of the person against another list of persons with criminal history.  Names that produce “hits” do not necessarily mean that the person being searched has a criminal record, but that their name may have a spelling or sound match with someone who has a criminal record.  If such a “hit” is produced, each record that is “hit” must be pulled up and examined to determine whether the individual being searched is the individual with the criminal record.  According to the FBI, delays occur when several hits are produced, and in waiting or trying to locate the records that are “hit.” 

• Consequently, the 3 month limit that USCIS had to conduct the background check was lifted. There is now no time limit to adhere to when conducting background checks.  (Note: CIS still has a time limit on making a decision on an application – see 8 U.S.C. §1447(b))

• It is possible that USCIS’s failure to adjudicate the applications due to delays in “name checks” violates the Immigration and Nationality Act and the Administrative Procedures Act. The Administrative Procedures Act requires administrative agencies to conclude matters presented to them “within a reasonable time.” See 5 U.S.C. §555.

• Are Muslims being targeted? It is hard to say. “The immigration agency refuses to release the relevant data on processing times- Freedom of Information Act requests from Muslim advocates, investigative journalists and immigration restrictionists have all been denied. And a recent report by the Government Accountability Office, Congress’ investigative arm, chastised immigration officials for not tracking cases pending six months or longer.”” (Dallas Morning News, 3/15/2006)