House Votes to Make INS Fingerprint Applicants

In a move that may expand already bulging citizenship backlogs from Los Angeles to New York, the House on Thursday ordered the Immigration and Naturalization Service to take direct control of the fingerprinting process that has been at the heart of the scandals battering the Clinton administration’s Citizenship USA program.

Republican legislators say that direct oversight is the only way to ensure the integrity of a citizenship-determination regimen that has seen tens of thousands gain citizenship without the required criminal background checks, including hundreds of convicted criminals. More than one-third of all new citizen applicants live in California.

“We restore integrity to the citizenship process by ending the fingerprint scam that allowed felons by the thousands in 1996 to receive the most precious benefit this country can offer--United States citizenship,” said Rep. Harold Rogers (R-Ky.).

Thousands of private concerns nationwide--from nonprofit agencies to one-hour photo shops, liquor stores and beauty salons--are authorized to take the fingerprints of citizenship applicants. Critics say the process is susceptible to abuse and sloppiness, thwarting full background checks by the FBI.

“The whole concept of having somebody, a nonprofit or a volunteer group or some kind of nonofficial group, do documentation is about as logical as asking them to start printing money,” said Rep. Brian P. Bilbray (R-San Diego).

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But many immigrant rights advocates, while acknowledging that an INS takeover of the fingerprint process makes sense, have voiced fears that the agency would not be able to assume the massive task within the quick House time frame--seven days after the new requirement is signed into law, which could happen as early as today.

That would give the agency little time to rent space, hire personnel, train staff and get the word out. In Southern California, the INS is planning to set up a dozen or so fingerprint operations to replace more than 400 private concerns. Activists said the INS had yet to identify a fingerprint site in Texas, which ranks fourth after California, New York and Florida in the number of naturalizations.

“This will slow everything down even more,” said Father Rody Gorman, pastor of St. Matthias Roman Catholic Church in Huntington Park and a community activist urging immigrants to become citizens. “People are already getting discouraged: Many have waited two years and heard nothing from the INS.”

Although daunted by the task, INS authorities have expressed guarded confidence in their ability to manage the fingerprinting, though some said privately that a week’s notice could be problematic and may result in more delays.

INS Commissioner Doris Meissner has scheduled a public briefing today focusing on the revamped fingerprint process, part of an ongoing overhaul of the citizenship system.

Originally, INS officials had planned to take over fingerprinting by next summer after purchasing electronic scanners to replace the existing ink-based system. The agency moved the date up to March under congressional pressure, then to February. Now, the INS may assume control in a matter of days, with only a few electronic print machines purchased.

The INS has already contracted with Dyncorp., a Virginia-based firm, to set up scores of new fingerprinting offices nationwide. The agency will also have mobile units in places like Southern California, which leads the nation in citizenship applicants. But, the agency stressed, INS officers will oversee all operations.

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To accommodate the new system, the agency is adding an extra application step. Currently, would-be citizens submit fingerprint cards with their completed applications. Under the new system, they will be directed to mail in applications without prints and will subsequently receive notices to appear at INS fingerprint facilities.

That extra step, many fear, could further slow a process already tottering under national backlogs of more than 1.2 million applications. About 400,000 applicants in Southern California alone are awaiting adjudication.

“It’s probably going to add another year in the process,” said Lilian Hirales of the National Council of La Raza, a Latino advocacy group. “The whole thing is being completely rushed.”

To finance the effort, Congress is expected to provide about $84 million in additional funding for citizenship efforts. But critics still fear that the agency will have to reassign adjudicators, clerks and others now working in application processing to the new fingerprint detail, exacerbating delays.

Just a year ago, an applicant’s wait for a citizenship decision was down to six months, the result of the Clinton administration’s Citizenship USA initiative, launched in Los Angeles in 1995. But safeguards designed to return integrity to the process have slowed matters to a crawl in the past year, forcing some to wait up to two years or more.

The safeguards also led to about a one-third drop in the number of new citizens naturalized in 1997, officials said--to about 700,000, down from a record 1 million in fiscal 1996. The drop occurred even as the number of applications reached a record 1.6 million--a 34% increase compared to 1996.

During congressional inquiries, Republicans on Capitol Hill uncovered evidence that tens of thousands of new citizens had been approved during 1996 without thorough checks of criminal histories. The INS has since mandated that no applicant be approved without an FBI background check.

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McDonnell reported from Los Angeles, Wilgoren from Washington.