INS Reports Reduction of Backlog

Bolstered resources, administrative efficiencies and diminishing demand have allowed the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service in Los Angeles to chip away at the nation’s largest backlog of citizenship applicants, top INS officials said yesterday.

“We are on the road to improvement,” said INS Commissioner Doris Meissner during a visit to the agency headquarters in downtown Los Angeles.

But, while INS officials were boasting of successes, activists aiding would-be citizens said they have noted only one major change: a disturbing drop-off in applications from frustrated filers who do not want to be caught in what they see as a quagmire.

“We haven’t seen a lot of positive results yet,” said Greg Simons, citizenship coordinator for the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles. “The average applicant doesn’t feel any improvement.”

INS officials insist that things are getting better, though they acknowledge that about 200,000 people in the region who have been waiting for more than 15 months to become citizens remain stuck in the process. Thousands have waited for three years or more in a process that agency officials acknowledge should take just six months.

Administrative delays mean all of them must submit new fingerprints and undergo new security checks.

The INS’s Los Angeles office, with responsibility for seven Southern California counties, including Los Angeles, Orange and Ventura, is now scheduling 1,300 citizenship interviews a day, officials say. That is double the number of just a few months ago.

Officials credit several improvements, including additional funding that has allowed the agency to increase staff and pay an additional $1 million in overtime to personnel handling applications.

The INS in Los Angeles has hired 24 staffers to interview citizenship applicants, boosting the total to 158. Clerical support has also been increased and facilities have been renovated to handle the workload.

Moreover, authorities say automation has been improved--though most files are held in Manila folders at INS headquarters--and a formal “backlog reduction plan” to identify and eliminate bottlenecks has been implemented.

Meanwhile, new applications are flowing in at about 500 a day--a brisk pace, but just half the daily total of a year ago and a fraction of the 2,500 that were swamping officials here each day just two years ago.

The drop-off, reflecting a national decline of almost 50%, has given the agency some “breathing space,” said Meissner. Officials cite several reasons for the decline, including mounting frustration among prospective applicants and Congress’ decision to restore many public benefits to noncitizen legal residents--the latter move alleviating the fears of many who faced benefit cutoffs.

Still, about 410,000 citizenship applicants remain in the queue in Southern California, representing about one-quarter of the national total. Some have been in line three years or more. The total peaked at about 450,000 a few months ago, said Rosemary Melville, INS deputy district director.

As part of next year’s budget, INS officials are seeking $171 million in additional funding to assist naturalization efforts. However, the request faces an uncertain future in Congress, where GOP lawmakers have been hesitant to pump more money into a system that they have criticized as inadequate in in its ability to screen out ineligible felons.

The government now spends about $305 million on citizenship efforts. That amounts to less than one-tenth of the INS budget of almost $4 billion. The vast majority of the money goes to enforcement, especially along the U.S.-Mexico border.

As of Jan. 15, the fee for citizenship applications will more than double, to $225, from the current $95. Officials say the money is needed to finance the program.

Many community activists working with citizenship applicants would like to see a change in the agency’s funding practices. They complain that citizenship is not a big enough priority and multitudes are stuck in the backlog without a chance to become full participants in U.S. society.

“Every time Mrs. Meissner comes here, it’s public relations at work,” said Khalil Khalil, chief administrative officer for the Coptic Orthodox Church in Los Angeles, which includes members from Egypt and other Middle Eastern nations.

Khalil said about 700 church members, mostly elderly, have been waiting to become citizens for 3 1/2 years. Some have submitted fingerprints on four different occasions, he said, but have yet to be interviewed by the INS.

“This is an example of bureaucrats sitting on a process that should take 15 minutes,” said Khalil, who added that he was not allowed to join a meeting with Meissner on Thursday at the agency offices in Los Angeles. “I need an answer: Why does this take so long?”