Naturalization Delay- My Policy Line

It seems that the US Immigration and Customs Services Ombudsmen has followed This American Muslims gripe about the Naturalization Delay processing. Citing in the Annual Report for USCIS in June 2007 that:

Name Checks and Other Security Checks – FBI name checks, one of the security screening tools used by USCIS, continue to significantly delay adjudication of immigration benefits for many customers, hinder backlog reduction efforts, and may not achieve their intended national security objectives. FBI name checks may be the single biggest obstacle to the timely and efficient delivery of immigration benefits, and the problem of long-pending FBI name check cases worsened during the reporting period.

The question is why do these name check with the FBI "not achieve their intended national security objectives?"

Since I became aware of this problem, worked on organizing the CAIR-ACLU lawsuit and subsequently assisted many of the other CAIR chapters with this problem, I have advocated that these FBI Name Checks are critical to the National Security apparatus. Its this very benifit process that allows us to do what is necessary to understand who is in the United States and why.

The benefit being given is fairly rare amongst the benefits given by the US government and so deserves the special scrutiny that is necessary. However, the process to get these benefits has always been transparent and time sensitive. Unfortunately that has changed and that is the very issue I have diligently been working on addressing with limited results.

Addressing the question, here are my thoughts as to the why its a problem:

1. The name check with the FBI is done by running phonetically the names of applicants for benefits against the databases the FBI maintains- they will not let anyone else touch it!- those include the International, Domestic Criminal, and a general database. The place where people get stuck is the general database. Unfortunately this database is based on any chance encounter with the FBI or being on some ones contact list who has been contacted by the FBI. Like I know for instance, my name is on this list because I work with FBI agents assisting them with complaints or questions or concerns from the Muslim community. Being on this list does not make one a suspect or guilty of anything, it just means your part of the data collection efforts of the agency. However, that means this database is probably the largest of all of them, and that means its hard to tell one Mohammad from another Muhammad. (Did you notice the names?) Because that is critical, this works for John and Jon. The FBI will have to physically pull every file that comes up with the same name and verify John is not Jon. That physical extraction if further made difficult if your files were stored in the Kenyan Embassy for example because there are no more physical remnants of your file. The problem is self evident.
2. The delays are further compounded by the issue of funding. This FBI department lacks the funds to invest in technology and personal to process the capacity- significant increase- of applicants coming from USCIS.
3. No one takes responsibility and everyone points fingers. Being a bureaucracy the FBI, DHS and USCIS all point fingers at one another saying that the other is responsible for the delay. I think the brunt of the delay issue is with the FBI because once the file goes to the FBI- after the interviews and test- it seems to be a black hole from which people here or see little about the status of their applications.

Now the QUESTION:

• We have at our finger tips the opportunity to find and get those individuals who are of concern to the United States and our National Security and we will not know this for years and years. People applying for benefits and who get snagged in this process where their names are pinged end up waiting three, four years before they even hear that they need to still wait from the FBI. While they wait, they could be plotting and planning and the FBI will never know because they do not have the capacity to process the applicants in a timely fashion. Something that is critical to national security should not take SIX years to process. Right?
• When people are begin processed quicker it will give the impression that they are welcome and will not further marginalize the community. Right now we know that the large group of people affected by this is from the Middle East, South Asia and are predominately Muslim. Its hard to tell a large group of people who are excited to become American, who have lived close to a decade in the US, paying taxes and making a life for themselves that you have to wait six years with NO recourse to adjudicate your case. Its frustrating and the impression I get from teh community is that this is War on Terror really is not about the bad guys but about all Muslims. I personally think that is a bad impression, one that is not correct, but the government could do a lot more to change it by taking actions that will not only ensure National Security but will bring Muslims into American society quicker and sooner with out the bitter taste of bureaucracy.
  

If you want to read the 145 page report visit the government site here.