Senators Blast Chertoff on Citizenship Delays

WASHINGTON — Democratic senators blasted the nation's top homeland security official Wednesday for a backlog in citizenship applications that could keep hundreds of thousands from voting in the 2008 election.

Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., told Homeland Secretary Michael Chertoff that he was "outraged" at the backlog, which is now 13-15 months long.

"What can you tell individuals who play by the rules, when you have an enormous amount of individuals who want to be part of the American dream, but who are going to be left outside of the system," he said, at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.

Kennedy said that 580,000 people who applied for citizenship in time to vote will be denied that chance because of the delays.

Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., who chairs the panel, said that the backlog is especially troublesome since the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) increased its fees substantially in July 2007 in an effort to expedite processing times.

Leahy also questioned whether political motivations were in play.

"Can you assure that those who applied for U.S. citizenship before March 31st, 2008, that they're actually going to be able to get that citizenship in time to vote ... or is it going to be, as many have suggested, that there is an effort made to make sure they don't vote," he asked.

Chertoff said he couldn't make assurances about how many people will be processed in time to vote, but staunchly defended his agency.

He said the backlog was caused by an unprecedented 100 percent increase in applications last year and that he wants to process as many as possible.

Several factors caused the surge, including major campaigns by Latino groups and others to promote citizenship, the national debate on immigration — which motivated immigrants to participate in the political process — and the desire by many to apply before the hike in fees.

The agency has hired more than 3,000 temporary federal and contract staff to help reduce the backlog.

Chertoff said that USCIS will process more than 1 million naturalization applications by the end of the current fiscal year, 30 percent more than in 2007.

"We are going to be able to naturalize in record numbers, which I think is a powerful demonstration of good faith," he said.

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Senate Judiciary Committee: judiciary.senate.gov