Illegals Skate, Legals Wait In FBI Backlog-Rolling
"FBI Name Check Cited In Naturalization Delays" from the Washington Post reports that the backlog of potential legal immigrants to the US has been held up by FBI background checks.
Since 2005, the backlog of legal U.S. immigrants whose applications for naturalization and other benefits are stuck on hold awaiting FBI name checks has doubled to 329,160, prompting a flood of lawsuits in federal courts, bureaucratic finger-pointing in Washington and tough scrutiny by 2008 presidential candidates...
In his annual report to Congress last week, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) ombudsman Prakash I. Khatri called the backlog of FBI name checks "unacceptable from the standpoint of national security and immigration benefits processing."
Calling the delays the "most pervasive problem" in processing, Khatri concluded that they "may increase the risk to national security by prolonging the time a potential criminal or terrorist remains in the country." He concluded that the agency should end or sharply narrow its use of name checks.
Michelle Malkin weighs in...
I'm so happy someone is sticking up for legal immigrants. We are not all terrorists. There is a large percentage like myself who just want what every american wants...A means to an end. In other words the right to live and work and pay into SS and federal taxes. We are not freeloaders either. Most of the applications cost a lot of time and money. I have been stuck in an FBI name check status for 4 years now so that means I have to pay to renew my license every 10 months. I have to apply for a new work permit every 10 months also plus everything that goes along with it. Hope this argument goes a long way into speeding things up.
Posted by: Awaiting Immigrant | February 13, 2008 at 07:41 AM