Democratic National Committee Hon. Henry G. Cisneros, Mayor Hon. Angelo Del Toro New York State Assembly Hon. Robert Garcia Mr. Edward Romero, Pres.- Hon. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen Ms. Marla Elena Torano, Pres. Hon. Art Torres California State Senator Hon. Esteban Torres Member of Congress Ms. Cathi Villalpando Harry Pachon, Ph.D. National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed officials (NALEO) and Kenan Professor of Politics at Pitzer College in Claremont, Calif. Before the House Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees and International Law Wednesday, April 26, 1989 Chairman Morrison, Subcommittee members and invited panelists, the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) welcomes the opportunity to testify before this Subcommittee on naturalization and related Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) issues. NALEO is a Hispanic non-profit, non-partisan civic affairs organization that focuses on issues that have impact on the nation's growing Hispanic community. NALEO's members include the more than 3,300 Hispanic elected and appointed officials and their supporters. During the last four years, NALEO has been undertaking an ambitious national research and demonstration project on naturalization. This project has included the operation of a toll-free U.S. citizenship hotline which has received 150,000 calls in NALEO's hotline has provided people from three years. 708 G Street, S.E. Washington, D.C. 20003 (202) 546-2536 1114 S. Lorena Los Angeles, CA 90023 (213) 262-8503 Page 2 NALEO Testimony April 26, 1989 As 66 countries of origin with basic information on U.S. citizenship. importantly, callers from all these nations have given us at NALEO an understanding of the problems that immigrants face when they have made the decision to become U.S. citizens. - 4 Today, as the subcommittee knows, there are more than 6 million legal immigrants with resident status living in the United States million of which are of Latin American origin. While these legal residents work, pay taxes, contribute to the economy, raise families and serve in the armed forces, they are not fully a part of our society because of their non-U.S. citizenship status. They cannot serve on grand juries, they are barred from certain government and private sector jobs and they cannot fully participate in Social Security if they retire overseas. The administrative naturalization legislation (HR 1630) that the Chairman has introduced is a major step in the right direction in dealing with integration of these immigrants into American society. HR 1530 attempts to deal with an issue that is often overlooked during immigration policy discussions, as well as by the INS itself. I would first like to generally discuss my views on U.S. citizenship and then some recommendations on Chairman Morrison's administrative naturalization legislation. U.S. Citizenship Today, U.S. citizenship is the stepchild of the INS. Since the Bureau of Naturalization was merged with the Bureau of Immigration in 1933, U.S. citizenship has been overshadowed by its big brother - Page Three April 26, 1989 immigration enforcement. In 1989, Only about 10 percent of the INS budget was earmarked for naturalization. The naturalization situation is not improving, it has gotten worse. NALEO research into INS naturalization statistics has indicates that the number of adjudicated U.S. citizenship cases declined in fiscal year 1987. Indeed, in INS districts that accounted for 80 percent of the people applying for amnesty under the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 saw a decline in U.S. citizenship adjudications. This may be the result of the INS shifting naturalization staff to legalization duties. Let me give some specific examples. In California, 105,284 legal permanent residents received U.S. citizenship in fiscal year 1987 21.5 percent drop from the previous fiscal year. In Illinois, the number of people granted U.S. citizenship dropped by 47.2 percent. In Florida, the drop was a startling 60.5 percent. however, it was an unbelievable 99.5 percent drop. not because of a lack of demand. In New Mexico, Clearly, this is Under your leadership, I hope this Subcommittee can investigate why there has been such a drop in naturalization case processing at the INS. This drop in naturalization rate, however, is not the only problem the INS faces in U.S. citizenship. Two issues have plagued naturalization case processing for the last several years: backlogs; and the rejections of a large number of non-files and returns of applicants. Page Four NALEO Testimony Backlogs Permanent residents seeking U.S. citizenship are confronted with a set of bureaucratic obstacles that may cause huge delays. During the past four years, NALEO has monitored the waiting times for citizenship examinations (the first step of the process) and the actual court ceremonies in key cities. While waiting times fluctuate, today an applicant will face the following delays (barring any unseen problems, such as having an application lost at the INS): - applying for a driver's license. Immigrants do not need to show their commitment to our society by standing in line and enduring red tape they have already done so by working hard and contributing to our society. Non-Files Mr. Chairman, one of the hidden problems in naturalization is the high rate of applications that the INS rejects and returns. While the INS maintains that the official rate is 1 percent, NALEO research has Page Five NALEO Testimony April 26, 1989 discovered it is actually closer to 33 percent. Under the bureaucratic nomenclature of "non-files" and "withdrawals," more than 150,000 permanent residents seeking to become U.S. citizens are turned away each year by the at the time of their first application. The high rejection rates are due, in part, to the - the N-400 and G-325. These difficult INS naturalization forms forms take a person with immigration experience close to an hour to complete. The INS provides no guidelines that would assist the legal resident in filling out these forms. Let me share with the Subcommittee a few examples of some of the more obscure items that may trip up the application. Applicants are asked how long they have lived in the United States. While this is a logical question, the answer must be calculated and entered only in Also, the naturalization forms must be typed or filled out in ink. Some INS offices, however, will only accept applications-in-black-ink, thus rejecting applications filled out in months - blue ink. not years. Administrative Naturalization NALEO has long believed that a fair administrative naturalization process could help to relieve the current processing backlogs and provide many permanent residents with the dream they seek, becoming a U.S. citizen. HR 1630 provides an excellent framework for molding an administrative naturalization process, as well as for dealing with certain citizenship procedural matters that are in need of attention. HR 1630 recognizes that the INS and the courts may not move very |