For immediate Release: Press Release

April 23, 2008

For more information contact:

• Catherine Salgado, 312.332.7360 Ext. 235
• Luvia Quiñones, 312.332.7360 Ext. 212

Delegation to hand-deliver a letter to District Director

Chicago, IL – Leaders and immigrant advocates from the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR) and new citizens along with a delegation of U.S. citizenship applicants, some of them caught in the backlog that will prevent them to vote this year, delivered a letter to Mrs. Ruth Dorochoff, District Director of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) office. The letter stated the disappointment on they way USCIS has ignored the various requests by ICIRR to have an oath ceremony for hundreds of applicants eager to become new citizens in a celebratory event to take place on June 28.

In the last three years, ICIRR in partnership with 35 organizations have assisted over 32,411 individuals with citizenship through the New Americans Initiative (NAI) program and have directly helped increase, by 56% the number of citizenship applications in the Chicago region, from 81,026 (2002-2004) to 126,493 (2005-2007). “These numbers show the increasing desire of immigrants to become full participants of the civic life of this country,” said Flavia Jimenez, Director of NAI. “The least we could expect from USCIS is to recognize the importance of helping new U.S. citizenship applicants to fully integrate into American society and not to build more walls that make it harder for immigrants to achieve this dream.”

Over 1 million people across the country are still waiting for their citizenship interview. “The backlog will prevent all these people from voting this year, which for many of them was the main reason they decided to apply,” said Alejandra Cabrera from the Latino Organization of the South West.

USCIS office has disregarded calls and letters by applicants worried about not being able to vote this Presidential election. Josefina Sierra, a Chicago South side resident applied in April of 2007. “I am worried, it has been over a year since I applied and I have not heard back. I want to vote, I want to make a difference and have my voice heard this upcoming election but I might not be able to.

Centro Romero, the organization that assisted with Mrs. Sierra’s application, sent a letter on her behalf to the USCIS office and never heard back. “This is not the first time we have stories like this. Applicants are very discontent for the lack of response to their pending applications and our organization has not got any responses either. We see how excited immigrants are to become U.S. citizens, but the backlogs are making people think twice,” said Susana Salgado from Centro Romero.

Participants included leaders from the Muslim Women Resource Center, Centro Romero, Instituto del Progreso Latino, Albany Park Neighborhood Council and Latino Organization of the Southwest.

The Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights is a state wide coalition of over 100 organizations dedicated to promoting the rights of immigrants and refugees to full and equal participation in the civic, cultural, social, and political life of our diverse society.

For more information, visit ICIRR’s website at www.icirr.org or call Catherine Salgado at 312.332.7360 ext. 235