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More immigrants suing U.S. because of citizenship backlog

The number of immigrants suing the federal government to force a decision on their backlogged citizenship applications is increasing sharply, the Washington Post reported Wednesday.

In fiscal 2005, applicants filed 370 such lawsuits against U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. By last year, the number had jumped to 3,900, and applications this year are on pace to surpass 5,200, the Post said.

The backlog was caused by an unprecedented number of applications last year — more than 1.4 million.

Lawmakers have blasted the agency for not preparing for the increase.

At a hearing last month, Sen. Edward Kennedy told Homeland Secretary Michael Chertoff that 580,000 people who applied for citizenship in time to vote in November will be denied that chance because of the delays.

Chertoff said that USCIS will process a record 1 million naturalization applications by the end of the current fiscal year, 30 percent more than in 2007.

Read the Washington Post story here.

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