Civil Rights Groups
File Class-Action Suit
San Francisco, CA: Civil
rights groups filed a class-action lawsuit Feb 8 against
the federal government for its practice of indefinitely
delaying citizenship applications in violation of the Constitution
and federal statutes and regulations, says a CAIR press
release. It adds:
“There is no point in calling our legal process a
path to citizenship, if the government puts up a roadblock
to keep you from reaching the goal,” said Cecillia
D.Wang, senior staff attorney with the ACLU Immigrants’
Rights Project. “We are taking legal action today
to reaffirm the promises made to so many patient, hardworking
immigrants who want to become US citizens and fully participate
in our democracy.”
The first of its kind in Northern California, the lawsuit
seeks to enforce federal laws that expect the government
to decide a citizenship application within 120 days of the
naturalization test. Many of the named plaintiffs have been
waiting for several years, a clear violation of the law.
The plaintiffs, long-time legal permanent residents of Northern
California, have met all the legal requirements for citizenship,
including passing their immigration interview and clearing
criminal record checks, but have not been granted citizenship
due to a so-called “FBI name check,” a process
that has taken years to complete.
“I was excited when I passed the interview and the
immigration officer told me that I would get a final response,
at the latest, in three months. It has been over two years
and still no word,” said 25-year- old Sana Jalili
who has two American-born children. She immigrated to the
United States from Pakistan when she was 15.
The ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project, the ACLU of Northern
California, the Asian Law Caucus, and the Council on American-Islamic
Relations, San Francisco Bay Area Chapter (CAIR-SFBA), all
jointly filed the lawsuit in federal district court in San
Francisco.
“This lawsuit deals with the government’s recent
attempts to evade the law: moving the unreasonable delay
earlier to skirt the letter of the law while still violating
people’s due process rights,” said Sin Yen Ling,
a staff attorney with the Asian Law Caucus. “Our lawsuit
specifically addresses the issue by arguing for a time limit
within which the government must complete the ‘name
check,’ regardless of the stage at which the check
is conducted.”
Todd Gallinger, legal counsel with CAIR-SFBA, added: “The
Council on American Islamic Relations’ Bay Area Chapter
(CAIR-SFBA) alone has received more than 65 cases, mostly
from people of Middle Eastern or South-Asian origin. Other
civil rights groups are also reporting a disproportionately
high number of persons affected among the American Muslim
community. Regardless of whether these delays are due to
discrimination or incompetence, they are illegal and must
be corrected.”
“The government’s failure to process naturalization
applications in a timely manner creates terrible hardships
for people like Abdul Ghafoor, who has been unable to bring
his wife and four young children to the United States for
the last several years,” said Julia Harumi Mass, staff
attorney for the ACLU of Northern California. “We
are bringing this lawsuit because of the impact on family
integrity and civic participation for important members
of our community.”
Defendants named in the lawsuit include the heads of the
Department of Homeland Security and the FBI, among others.
The case is titled Zhang v. Gonzales. Other named plaintiffs
are Alia Ahmedi, Zhong Fu, Abdul Ghafoor, Miao Ling Huang,
Sana Jalili, Yan Wang and Yan Yin.
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