Posted on 11/23/2007 8:00:30 AM PST by AuntB
A huge citizenship application backlog may deny hundreds of thousands of immigrants in the U.S. from exercising their franchise in next year's U.S. presidential election, media reports indicated.
The backlog in applications, which the officials attribute to a surge before a July administration fee hike, could take at least 18 months to resolve, media reports say. That means many applicants would not be able to vote in the election that falls in 2008 November.
Becoming a U.S. citizen usually takes about seven months, but the current paperwork backlog could take between 15 and 18 months to work through, according to the Citizenship and Immigration Services agency, part of the Department of Homeland Security.
The agency is going to process these cases giving high priority, without focusing on any of the election cycle, the Washington Post reported, quoting Michael Aytes, associate director of the Citizenship and Immigration Services agency.
According to the figures provided by the agency, a total of 7.7million applications for U.S. citizenship were filed for the fiscal year ending 2007 September 30, an excess of 1.4 million compared to the previous fiscal year.
The paperwork burgeoned in the months before fees for citizenship applications almost doubled to $595 and nearly tripled for legal residency applications to $930.
Meanwhile, Hispanic leaders have expressed concern over the delays at the U.S. immigration department, which says they are helpless in clearing an unexpected paperwork accumulation.
"I would hope there's not a political motivation because citizenship is too valuable for partisan mischief," the AP quoted Arturo Vargas of the National Association for Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, as saying.
A majority of U.S. immigrants in 2006 were Hispanics. Strong Republican opposition to immigration reform bills this year infuriated a large section of the Hispanics, who tend to vote for Democrats.
Who was saying we need to increase 'legal immigration'?
Exactly Arturo, exactly. Pretty hefty two-edged sword you are swinging there.
Voting Prospects Of Thousands Of U.S. Legal Immigrants At Risk...
all ILLEGALS will have no trouble voting for lib/dems!!!
“Media reports.”
The media is pushing for a repeat of 1996, when hundreds of thousands of ineligible applicants for citizenship were naturalized, without the most cursory of background checks, just in time for the general election, and just in time to vote for the party Gore, who pushed the INS effort, hoped they would. Later, of course, the naturalizations were reversed, worsening an already bad INS backlog.
Those who don’t learn from history....
Tell ya what. Why don't we just let anyone who shows up vote? After all, they are going to become citizens eventually, and they have ID.
And as far as illegal aliens go, I have been personally assured by Karl Rove that they are the "Republicans of the Future." So it should work out for us, right? I was worried about the voting rights of dead illegal aliens, but then Linda Sanchez has that angle covered, along with about half of the sheriffs, mayors, state reps and senators in Aztlán.
Love to chat further on this, but my Spanish Class is starting. After that, I have a Muslim Awareness session.
I was going to cite the same quote! All we’ve been hearing is that “the immigration system is broken”, and they make it sound as if no one is being let in. 7 million sounds like a ton of people to me!
I also find it very interesting that the ‘hispanic’ community keeps telling us that there is no other way for them to immigrate except ‘illegally’.....But then we read, “A majority of U.S. immigrants in 2006 were Hispanics. “ (7.7 million applicants last year.
That's largely disingenuous. I understand the point, even through biased writing, but a person can't be disenfranchised if they don't have a right to vote.
Is jorge trying to let the whole of south America in to the country? There is no way these number should be allowed, I thought there was some kind of legal cap passed by congress.
This administration has been active in raising 'caps' on all immigrants, Saudi visas, illegal aliens, etc. etc.
They say this like it’s a bad thing.
I wonder how many of them will still consider themselves citizens of Mexico, and still return there to excercise their right to vote there after they've been granted citizenship and voting rights here.
I know but I could take care of this back log in about fifteen minutes, little lighter fluid.
They didn’t come here to vote, they came here to make money. They won’t take the time to vote unless they think there’s money in it.
ping
What am I missing here?
They don't and won't have franchise rights UNTIL they ARE citizens. ("5. the right to vote: to guarantee the franchise of every citizen. "should read "from becoming eligible for franchise rights"
” partisan mischief,” the AP quoted Arturo Vargas of the National Association for Latino Elected and Appointed Officials”
Partisanship Arturo??
LMAO!!
“I also find it very interesting that the ‘hispanic’ community keeps telling us that there is no other way for them to immigrate except ‘illegally’.....But then we read, “A majority of U.S. immigrants in 2006 were Hispanics. “ (7.7 million applicants last year.”
Notice all these
Hispanic” groups have the “Them against us” anti American citizen mentality? Yeah, you noticed.
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