Federal Suit Is Seeking to Expedite Citizenship
"Because of policy changes in 2002 as a result of the Sept. 11 attacks, the F.B.I. must check not only the name of the applicant but also any references to that name in its files, officials said. The reference files are not all in computer databases and some must be searched manually, Richard Kolko, a spokesman for the bureau, said.
Those files include names of people who committed no crimes, including victims and witnesses, F.B.I. officials said. They said they had been consolidating and modernizing the databases. The lawsuit seeks to force Citizenship and Immigration Services to impose deadlines for completing all the checks and challenges the expanded searches. The lawsuit is the first to include citizenship applicants who have not already passed the required civics examination administered by an immigration officer. By law, the agency is required to decide on naturalization petitions within 120 days after the candidate passes that test.
Lawyers said the likelihood was small that legal immigrants who applied for naturalization would have a criminal background because any record was a legal bar to becoming a citizen.
Jim Moorhead, 56, another plaintiff, is a British citizen who said he had lived as a legal immigrant in the United States for 30 years. In 1991, Mr. Moorhead was named a citizen hero by Los Angeles County when he captured an armed robber. A name check delay has held up his citizenship petition for two years.
“I’ve given 30 years of my life to America, and now I can’t even do the right thing by becoming a citizen.”
Don't feel bad, Jim! I've been here my whole life, and I've been shat on by this country, too!All over the false scourge of "terrorism."
