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Opinion: Citizenship delayed for an Iraqi-American soldier

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The American Civil Liberties Union is suing the U.S. for delaying the citizenship application of decorated soldier Julian Polous Al Matchy beyond what’s legally allowed (120 days after the applicant passes a citizenship test). Here’s more on Polous:

Specialist Polous is a permanent lawful resident of the United States, currently stationed in Fort Riley, Kansas. He is a native and citizen of Iraq. He immigrated to the U.S. in May 2001 and quickly applied for political asylum, which was granted in 2002. In 2005, he became a lawful permanent resident of the United States. Polous joined the U.S. Army in March 2006 and served, among other duties, as a translator. He was deployed along with his unit to his native country of Iraq. In October 2007, he was seriously wounded when a suicide bomber detonated himself 10 feet from Polous and his fellow soldiers. After partially recovering from his wounds, he agreed to another stint in Iraq until December 2007.

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You’d think this is one of those cases Citizenship and Immigration Services would want to speed along, if purely for PR purposes. Or, if it’s too controversial to trumpet an Iraqi’s decision to become an American citizen, why not stick to the usual timeline for processing a naturalization application? It speaks to the administration’s general disregard for Iraqis who’ve helped the war effort. But mostly it’s the backlog -- one that was bad enough before expanded background check requirements, a fee increase, anti-immigrant sentiment, and a historic presidential election prompted a rush of applicants. Fortunately, USCIS is working on the problem by hiring more staff, though it’s unclear how much of an effect the increased numbers will have, as the Associated Press reports:

Since October, the agency has added 830 adjudication officers to its ranks, bringing the total working at immigration offices nationwide to 3,775. Another 590 are expected to be trained by the end of the year.... About 1.4 million people applied for naturalization in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2007, nearly double the number of petitions filed the previous year.... Overwhelmed, the agency warned that anyone who had applied after June 1, 2007, would likely wait 15 to 18 months to attain citizenship.... The agency has since said the waits will be shorter, but it won’t say by how much.

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