Democrats, GOP Seek to Speed, Restrict Immigration

Democratic leaders introduced legislation Thursday to speed the naturalization process, even as two congressional committees conducted hearings on bills intended to tighten up the process.

Kicking off an election-year effort aimed at attracting Latino voters, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) and House Minority Leader Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.), offered bills to, among other things, limit the Immigration and Naturalization Service’s authority to increase fees until it reduces by 30% the backlog of 1.7 million citizenship applications--one quarter of them in Southern California.

“It is critical that we update this process so that government can carry out this step rationally, efficiently, in a timely manner and with integrity,” Gephardt said at a news conference featuring immigrants waiting to become citizens. “We must resist the modern know-nothings in the Republican Party who want to slam the door shut in the faces of new immigrants.”

But while Gephardt and Kennedy outlined their plan, Sen. Spencer Abraham (R-Mich.) and Rep. Lamar S. Smith (R-Texas) called for a crackdown in light of a recent report that thousands of immigrants were improperly naturalized two years ago.

Their bills seek to codify many of the reforms that the INS has adopted in response to the controversy, such as requiring criminal background checks and having a standard citizenship test. The bills also extend to five years the window for the INS to revoke new citizenships.

Referring to the Citizenship USA drive, after which officials found that at least 6,000 and up to 30,000 people were improperly naturalized between August 1995 and September 1996, Smith said: “If that kind of pressure was put on the INS once, it seems likely that sometime in the future it could be put on the INS again.”

The legislative effort launched by him and Abraham seeks to keep that from occurring.

Smith added: “I hope we never again have to explain to the American people how anyone cheapened and diminished the greatest honor our nation can bestow.”

INS officials unveiled an overhaul of the entire naturalization process last month. On Wednesday, the agency said that by September it will take over administration of the English and civics test required for naturalization. Private groups have handled the tests since 1991, and federal officials recently uncovered two major cases of fraud.

But while Justice Department experts and consultants tout the progress the INS has made toward a standard and secure citizenship process, the agency’s officials offer little hope of a quick reduction in the backlog. James Angus, acting director of naturalization, said that the INS goal of cutting the wait to six months is at least 18 months away.

“Can I please have an answer: When can I expect--and I’ll be there on the doorstep on that day--when can I expect to have the backlog eliminated?” Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) demanded. “To be in a situation where the agency can’t even project when, can’t even have a goal when, can’t even have a target when--to me, it seems like it’s not being taken all that seriously.”

Angus and others declined to provide a timetable.

The Kennedy-Gephardt bills give Atty. Gen. Janet Reno a year to provide a plan for reducing the backlog so the wait is no more than six months. They also require the INS to allocate $100 million to streamline the citizenship process through improved technology and increased staffing.

The bill also seeks to prevent the INS from raising the fee for naturalization above $150 until the piles of applications are cut by a third in every office. Earlier this year, the agency announced plans to hike the fee from $90 to more than $200 to make the system pay for itself.

“I don’t know why we shouldn’t pay part of the cost as a country,” Gephardt said. “Are we going to put a price tag on citizenship?”

Standing with the Democrats were a Russian Jew who applied for citizenship in May 1996 and is still waiting his turn; a Bolivian woman who said that she is “caught in the red tape”; a doctor who escaped from West Africa as a boy by wading through 10 miles of thick swamps; and a South African who is in a Reserve Officers Training Corps but cannot fulfill his Army service until his citizenship is approved.

“Because of the delays in the citizenship processing, my dreams may be dashed,” said Bilal Omarjee, the South African who arrived in the United States in 1989 at age 16. “My life will be in a standstill until I become a U.S. citizen.”