Lawsuit Seeks Documents On Delays In Processing Citizenship Applications

Published: Tuesday, September 25, 2018 - 5:09pm
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Immigrant rights groups are taking the federal government to court over access to records tied to applications for citizenship.

The most recent data available shows a backlog of more than 750,000 green card holder requests to naturalize.

Court documents say activists filed the lawsuit because U.S. Immigration and Citizenship Services did not respond to a huge Freedom of Information Act request. Much of the request was for documents about delays in processing of citizenship applications.

The government’s goal is to process applications in 5 to 7 months. But the current estimated wait time in Phoenix is about 15 to 17 months. In Tucson, the wait is roughly 10 to 18 months.

A spokesperson for Immigration and Citizenship Services declined to comment on the lawsuit. They say despite a recent spike in applications, the annual number of naturalizations has not fallen.

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