Immigrant groups reach deal in name-check lawsuit

By AMY TAXIN
Associated Press Writer
11/09/2009

SANTA ANA, Calif.—Hundreds of immigrants in Southern California could soon become U.S. citizens after rights groups settled a lawsuit against the federal government over years-long delays in processing applications.

Organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union and National Immigration Law Center sued authorities in 2007 over tie-ups caused by FBI name checks, which sometimes required authorities to manually review files.

The settlement requires immigration authorities to process applications within six months for most of the more than 400 aspiring U.S. citizens who have been waiting, said Linton Joaquin, general counsel at the National Immigration Law Center in Los Angeles.

"The naturalization process has been a bureaucratic nightmare for so many permanent residents who did everything right to become citizens of this country," Jennie Pasquarella, an ACLU staff attorney, said.

The settlement approved Friday in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana covers immigrants in the greater Los Angeles area. Similar cases in New York and Seattle also settled recently, Joaquin said.

Mariana Gitomer, a spokeswoman for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, said the settlement benefited both sides. Messages were left seeking comment at the FBI.

Lawsuits have been filed across the country aiming to get U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to process applications more quickly.

The agency has 120 days to complete the paperwork after an immigrant has met the requirements for citizenship and been interviewed. But many cases have been held up for years because of pending name checks.

In 2007, the FBI had 350,000 name checks pending but has since bolstered staffing and upgraded technology to reduce the backlog. Earlier this year, immigration officials said nearly all FBI name checks were being answered within 30 days.

Joaquin said new applicants aren't facing tie-ups, but hundreds of immigrants who filed paperwork several years ago are still waiting.

Sonali Kolhatkar, a 34-year-old radio journalist, applied to naturalize in 2003 after marrying a U.S. citizen. She was interviewed in 2005 and told a name check was pending—then didn't hear back.

Kolhatkar tried to speculate about why her name might have yielded a hit in the FBI's files. Was it her Indian citizenship? Her birth in the United Arab Emirates? Her work as a journalist? She couldn't come up with an answer.

After joining the lawsuit, she finally became a citizen in March.

"It was as though my file was just lying in a dust heap somewhere, forgotten," Kolhatkar said.

http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_13748773