Naturalization Backlog Will Block Latino Votes
EFE, El Diario/La Prensa, Posted: Nov 27, 2007
NEW YORK -- The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced last week that it will not be able to process hundreds of thousands of applications for citizenship before the elections -- which means that many Hispanic voters will not be able to participate in the 2008 presidential elections, reports Spanish news service EFE. According to an editorial in New York's Spanish-language daily El Diario/La Prensa, the federal agency should not have been surprised—or unprepared—for the huge increase in applications it received this year. USCIS received 2.5 million applications last summer alone. This year, the number of naturalization petitions submitted doubled from 2006. The agency says it could take more than a year to process many recent applications. Yet, it was the agency’s staggering fee hikes that prompted the huge increase of applications early this year before they went into effect, the editorial argues. The flood of applications was also propelled by the "Ya es Hora" (The Time Is Now) campaign, a national drive to help immigrants submit their citizenship applications. Left with no choice, the editorial argues, immigrants have been forced to pay exorbitant fees. "The agency should be delivering, not delaying, on what it said triggered the fee hikes—a need to improve services," editors write.
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