Bureaucratic Backlog May Cost Immigrant Voters

After the interview went well, Ahn Kim gave his fingerprints and waited expectantly for the call that would set the date for his swearing-in ceremony to become a United States citizen. That was in 2002, and Kim, who asked that his name be changed, is still waiting for the call.
Kim is a one of an estimated 60,000 immigrants in New York who could have voted November 2 if their citizenship application had been processed on schedule, according to executive director of the New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC), Margie McHugh. In the tight presidential election, McHugh added, a large backlog of citizenship applications around the country may have disenfranchised enough potential voters to possibly swing the results.
"There are large backlogs, especially in battleground states where backlogs could make a difference," said McHugh. The NYIC had been campaigning along with other immigrant advocate groups to get out the immigrant vote around the country when they noticed the long citizenship waitlists. "Its hard not to notice so many people."
Young Sook Na, a program director at the Young Korean American Service and Education Center, Inc. who relayed Kims story, said, "He has done everything he could, and he still hasnt got [his citizenship]." She added that Kim, who has worked for the United States Postal Service for two years, was hoping to vote in this election.
The NYIC blames the absorption of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) into the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in 2002 for the long delays immigrants face to become citizens. The process of rearranging the bureaucracy and the addition of new responsibilities, like the special registration program introduced last year requiring immigrant men from Middle Eastern, Asian, and Muslim countries to report to the government, meant the backlog inherited from the INS increased under the DHS.
Morshed Alam, the president of the New American Democratic Organization, accuses the DHS of partisan bias, and says the backlog was deliberately neglected to keep immigrants from the polls. "They think the new voters are going to vote Democrat. Theyre trying to stop them from voting," he said.
"We readily admit that there is a backlog," said Chris Bentley, a spokesman for the DHSs Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (BCIS). He also admits that the special registration program contributed significantly to the backlog when BCIS employees were diverted from adjudicating citizenship cases to processing hundreds of Middle Eastern, Asian and Muslim men. "It took about 1,000 man-hours away," he said.
But Bentley denies that the delay was intentional and attributes the slowdown to "growing pains." According to Bentley, the BCIS is now moving swiftly to reduce the backlog.
Six months is the BCISs target waiting period for the citizenship process, from initial application to swearing-in ceremony. While Bentley said theyre getting close to this goal, "were not going to be able to do it overnight."
For thousands of immigrants waiting to become citizens this election year, its too late. "Theres not much we can do about it," said McHugh. "Except bring attention to it."
E-mail this reporter at sarah@queenscourier.com .