Now, can you imagine, a decorated war hero having to wait in limbo for citizenship?
The case is the latest in a string of lawsuits fighting prolonged, system-wide naturalization delays that are the result of lags in FBI background checks known as “name checks,” which USCIS’s own ombudsman has criticized as leading to rampant delays without any clear security benefit. Because of the delays, hundreds of thousands of citizenship applications have been held up well past the 120-day window established by Congress and the immigration agency itself for processing the applications.
“Our government has failed in its obligation to give a timely decision to long-time lawful permanent residents who have followed all the rules and want to pledge their allegiance to the United States,” said Cecillia Wang, managing attorney for the San Francisco office of the ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project. “It is particularly outrageous that Julian Polous Al Matchy, who voluntarily enlisted in the U.S. Army and received a Purple Heart after being wounded in battle in Iraq, is among the countless immigrants who have been left in limbo in violation of the law.”
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. For his service, he was awarded the Purple Heart, two Army Commendation medals, a Combat Action badge, Gold Combat Spurs and many certificates and letters of appreciation. He continues to receive medical treatment for his wounds sustained in Iraq.
In April 2007, having met all requirements to be come a citizen of the U.S., Polous applied for naturalization. He was interviewed by the USCIS on January 18, 2008. Despite the passage of six months since his naturalization interview and numerous inquiries by Polous and his commanding officers, USCIS has failed to render a decision on his application for citizenship. USCIS has told Polous that he has not yet passed the FBI background check, despite his combat service in the U.S. Army.
“I was proud to serve America as a soldier in the U.S. Army,” said Polous. “I love this country and very much want to become a citizen. I hope that this lawsuit helps me and other immigrants realize that dream.”
The FBI has always conducted background checks of people applying for U.S. citizenship. However, in 2002, the USCIS began requiring an expanded FBI name check, which checks applicants’ names against a drastically over-inclusive FBI database that includes the names of innocent people like witnesses, crime victims or persons who have applied for government security clearances. When an applicant’s name is similar to a name in the FBI database, the FBI often will let the name check process stall for months or years because further investigation requires a manual review of paper files that may be scattered across the country. USCIS implemented this policy change without giving the public notice and an opportunity to comment, as required by law.
“The government is required to make a decision within 120 days of interviewing any applicant for naturalization. Spc. Polous is not unique in having to endure such an unlawful delay,” said Jonathan Willmoth, an attorney of McCrummen Immigration Law Group, LLC and lead attorney for Polous. “Julian Polous has sacrificed greatly for this country, and it is wrong to deny him citizenship when he has met all the necessary requirements contained in statute or regulation.”
Polous’ commanding officer, Col. David Sutherland, wrote a letter of recommendation in November 2007, referring to Polous’ “flawless performance,” his “willingness to sacrifice greatly” and his “demonstrated record of success.”
Elena, welcome back. It’s so nice to see a thread begin with “Seriously” again.
To everyone who says –
“My ancestors immigrated the right way, they came legally.” – OKAY, DID THEY HAVE TO SUE THE FEDS TO GET THEIR PAPERWORK DONE?
NGL,
🙂 Nice to be back!
Oh cry me a river.
I don’t believe it’s right that our government can give away citizenship like candy to whoever they deem, I think there needs to be more accountability.
We need translators, so this guy gets a break for himself, but don’t expect me to cry if he has to wait in line for a while.
Rick,
What more sacrafice can you give then to risk your life in a war for your country? Don’t you think that deserves some special attention? Giving away citizenship like candy?
“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. For his service, he was awarded the Purple Heart, two Army Commendation medals, a Combat Action badge, Gold Combat Spurs and many certificates and letters of appreciation. He continues to receive medical treatment for his wounds sustained in Iraq.”
Not too many people would risk this kind of “candy” for citizenship, not even people who ARE born and raised here!
Rick,
Let me play devil’s advocate, and don’t take this wrong. Sodomy was illegal not too long ago, maybe it still is I don’t know. But let’s just say, it was 10 years ago, if illegal is illegal then you would have been in favor of punishing those who were guilty of committing sodomy or would you have thought the law to harsh for that crime?
America needs more people like Polous and less people like RB that think they accomplished something when their mother gave birth to them in the USA.
Is the delay intentional, or just one section of the dysfunctional fed moving too slowly? I agree, this fine individual should be granted his citizenship immediately. I didn’t read that he is any danger of being sent back, which is a good thing.
Elena said Not too many people would risk this kind of “candy” for citizenship, not even people who ARE born and raised here!
______
People who are born and raised here dont need to risk anything for Citizenship, Its a birth-right and I also want to “add” that I have a nephew who is serving in Iraq as we speak and he didnt do it to gain citizenship, he is doing it to protect our freedom in America..SOOOO when you made that comment it was like slapping all the soldiers in Iraq ( U S Citizens) in the face…in your eyes risking your life for citizenship is alot heavier than risking your life for freedom…
Uk Visa- Ask any illegal immigrant and he will tell you it is an accomplishment to be born here..Why else you think we have the issues we have….duhhhhhhhh
Rick Bentley – How dare you say such things regarding a veteran. Giving away citizenship like giving away candy-come on!!!! This guy was out there defending your rights. He should be moved to the front of the line an granted citizenship.
Alanna I am actually a big fan of sodomy, I think it’s the most fun one can have indoors, and I thought that law was not only too harsh, but downright unconstitutional. So I guess I’m in favor of the law being challenged upon the first arrest. Should public officials have enforced such an absurd law? Well, good question. My answer would be sometimes – when it is in the public interest. If some guy molested his or someone else’s child and stacking a sodomy charge on will help to force him towards jail time, I say yeah use that law. Which is primarily how it was actually used.
But I don’t see an analogy to our immigration laws.
Let me clarify, i think our government too often gives citizenship away like candy, i didn’t mean to refer to this particular guy’s service as candy-like.
But neither do I see this as a tragedy or a big deal. What’s another few months? probably the guy is itching to start pulling family members in and getting benefits for some of them and this is holding him up.
The FBI has a first rate Publicity department.
The rest pretty much doesn’t work well.
Ok, so the choice under the current laws are to pay for additional resources to address the backlog of applicants and any expanded background checks or to just conduct a semi completed background and let the applicant become a citizen.
I don’t have any problem with a necessary background check being conducted, so I am willing to pay more to have the system function properly and protect the country from those that should not be allowed to enter or stay here.
What does everyone else want?
It is a shame this individual, after all he has done, has to wait longer than the system proscribed, but how about the applicant who did not offer such service, do we just let him/her in without a complete background check? The system needs more resources. Period.
Agreed Lucky Duck!
Absolutely Lucky Duck. For some reason we all accepted less than standard service from a “company” that manages to pull in billions…. then everyone wonders and points to the ‘system’ as a failure.
The second point is ‘you get what what you are willing to pay for.
Let me give you a quick example of how the feds decided to fix their problem by ‘getting more money’, on August 1st of last year they doubled the filing fee for a Citizenship application to fund new computers. They didn’t anticipate a tidlewave of applicants which had the unintended consequence of causing a backlog that might not be resolved before the next presidential election. So, the process that they tried to make better, increased from a 3 month waiting period to conceivably an 18 month timeframe. And, last I heard, there were threats of lawsuits concerning this SNAFU as well.
Rick,
What about gay couples partners? Should they be given the same rights as spouses, meaning granted permission to stay here legally?
Agreed Lucky Duck.
Rick Bentley-Evidently you know nothing about the Federal Public Assistance policies about bringing family into the US. Maybe you should stick to what you know. You are off track on this one.
He’s a lawful permanent resident, so I gather he is in no danger of being deported, right? So what’s the big deal that he has to wait a bit longer? What will be significantly different for him? Maybe I’m not reading this correctly, but if he isn’t about to get shipped back to Iraq, than why should he have to be any less of a victim of government bureaucracy than the rest of us? I would hardly elevate him and his service above that of the many other wounded veterans, naturalized or otherwise.
Alanna, I think what happened was the failure of the Kennedy/McCain Bill and with the backlash that was evident to all, lawful residents decided it was time to file for citizenship. That rate increase by the immigration service was in the works for at least one fiscal year before the increase in applications because it was approved for the target date of 7/1/07, well before any vote was taken on the immigration bill. I give the agency credit for trying a novel idea, but political circumstances beyond their control increased their workload.
Disagreed Lucky Ducky,
We’re already throwing too much money away paying for bloated bureaucracies, full of bloated officials, and their bloated non-jobs. Maybe if these pressed suits actually had to make it on their own without sucking on the public teat, maybe if they actually had to contribute to the economy by…say…driving a truck, working on a farm, or constructing an office building, these bloated bureaucrats might actually lose the spare tire around their waist that we’re all paying for. All of the jobs I just mentioned are more dangerous than law enforcement.
When it comes to keeping people out of the country that shouldn’t be here, I agree. And we can start with the whole of the Bush administration.
It’s 2008 and the FBI (supposedly the nations top law enforcement agency) still doesn’t have a secure electronic document filing system. They still do everything with paper. Why do you think that’s the case considering the billions of dollars they have at their disposal? Is it just an accident that the irrefutable proof of their actions is still tracked on paper (which is very easy to ‘lose’ by the way) or is it by design for some reason?
They don’t need more resources. They’ve been given plenty.
They need accountability.
Mackie – speaking of accountabilty, you have a few outstanding questioned that should be answered?????
RB – glad you are back. While I may not agree with your editorial comments like “probably the guy is itching to start pulling family members in and getting benefits for some of them and this is holding him up” (sigh) I hope you realize that you had a bit of a following over on BVBL when you gave Greg what for regarding the “gay germs”. Kudos….
That’s the thing about social issues, six degrees and all…. We all need to keep that in mind on many issues.
Mackie, you always disagree with no alternative proposals in addition of course, to your duck and weave when questioned for facts to back up your statements.
You don’t want law enforcement (as you’ve stated before) and when asked for an alternative, you give nothing.
Now you don’t want an immigration system that is overwhelmed with applicants to obtain more resources. By they way, the FBI ONLY does the backgrounds, the processing part is up to Immigration. So you can’t blame the slowdown on Immigration and they have more customers than anticipated and need more resources. But once again, you offer no alternative except to take your daily shot at some law enforcement agency.
Juturna,
If you have any issue you would like to address, we encourage you to please come to our office to file a complaint. We are eager…most eager…to hear your complaints, and to vigorously respond.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJTGToy2YX4&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vy6nohQnMkY
So Mackie, you are not going to answer Juturna’s question which I cut and pasted right below?
Juturna, 3. August 2008, 13:57
On what do you base your comment that 2% of the force “respect our rights”? Let’s see, 2% of PWCPD is about 11 of the 560 cops. Certainly there would have been a lawsuit by now with almost 550 mean guys running amouk, carrying guns, abusing power all over the place?
What is your theory as to why no lawsuits?
Come on Mackie, don’t be an empty suit.
What, that you avoid answering questions? For this I should come to your office?
Is this blog a business venture for you??!!
Will assume you can only tear apart not build.
Bye the way who’s the “we”?
Haha. Nice try copper.
Good dissembling technique. I support law enforcement, including against those who abuse the law.
Don’t plagiarize.
Its against the law.
Mackie?! Okay let’s make it simple. Are you going to answer my question about the lack of lawsuits based on your statement that 2% of LEO’s respect our rights? Circle yes or no. 😉
Mackie, where did you get the idea that no one in government does those jobs? You seem to just make things up as you go along, and then you hide behind YouTube whenever anyone tries to call you out on your bs.
Come on out of hiding, Mackie. The nice policeman won’t hurt you.
Juturna,
That’s a very good question and I was hoping someone would eventually ask something similar. However, your question is too limited in scope in that it only takes into account 1 data point. It’s all about the data.
Mackie, you dance like a twelve year old girl….
From your postings I used to read that you had ideas and constructive comments, but the last month or so you’ve fallen off the wagon.
You toss “facts” around in a very loose manner and now you refuse to either back them up with supporting data or you ignore the question. Notice in your last post you tried to dodge it again and were unsuccessful at it, badly I might add.
Until you get back on your wagon of sensibility, I’ll just click the “ignore” button and engage those with straight facts or at least a two track mind as opposed to just one.
I apologize if I insulted any twelve year old girls…
Mackie. You’ve lost your credibility.
Lucky Duck 19:44 well said. I wish more people would reason like you do.
Mackie, cosa c’è?
Anyone else wanna pile on?
Oh now you’re a VICTIM!!!! Good Lord, Mackie.
Lucky Ducky,
Your focus on dancing twelve year old girls is a little disturbing. Somehow it seems inappropriate and completely unrelated to the subject matter at hand.
Mackie, you act like a juvenile…you have no credibility. Stop embarrassing yourself.
Lucky Ducky,
Where did you learn your character assassination technique? And why have you employed this weapon against me?
Guess I’m not gonna even get a yes or no. Data point…
Ahhh the art of character assassination. Now is that an art or a science? Let’s ask the expert…..ooops! Wrong blog!
Ok, this guy obviously is willing to sacrifice for this country, and that makes him every bit an American in my eyes. However, the groups of people that come here and set up shop as if still in Mexico with Spanish signs and such don’t give me the impression they have any desire to become Americans, nor do I get the impression they would be willing to even serve the country much less in combat. These folks need to be given a few reminders by people like Polous.
At the risk of riling some people up…I was having a discussion with a family member the other day, and SecondAlamo’s post made me think of it. There are so many things that pop up in posts indicating the discomfort some feel when they see a foreign flag or hear a foreign language being spoken. Why do so many feel that it is not appropriate or necessary to take a careful, albeit discomforting, look inside and see why they feel this way before demanding change of others?
I’ve seen so many posts on blogs about the immigrants’ (illegal or not) sense of entitlement. What about the sense of entitlement that others in America feel? Do we really feel entitled to never see or hear anything that makes us feel uncomfortable, so that we never have to confront what’s inside ourselves? I think it is much easier to have the attitude, “I was here first; It’s my house so you have to do what I want!”
Some are demanding constant proof, not only of legality but of total social assimilation, of all around them. This seems a steep task for people to meet, since everyone seems to have a different definition of what that assimilation should be, and exactly when the assimilation should be complete (some even suggest assimilation before entering the US). When such impossible, uneven, and mostly unlegislatable (I think I’m creating a word here…) goals are set, I have to wonder if they can ever be met to anyone’s satisfaction.
“There are so many things that pop up in posts indicating the discomfort some feel when they see a foreign flag or hear a foreign language being spoken.”
Because my County was recently invaded by tens of thousands of undocumented aliens and I had to live in a community full of them, well aware of the double standard that enabled them to skirt our normal laws and safeguards. Because they were turning the place I live into a Spanish ghetto. I would rather appear intolerant and bigoted than to just sit and watch my neighborhood crumble into an overcrowded lower-class ghetto. I’ve made that choice and am at peace with it. I am uncomfortable with people speaking Spanish in my community.
This IS America. English should be generally used.
DiversityGirl, I don’t want proof of total assimilation. I want proof of legal residency. Anyone else is not welcome, at all.
I do generally assume that if someone can’t speak English, they’re not a legal resident. Flawed and imperfect I know but it’s the best I can do. So what? If me giving someone a dirty look is the worst thing that happens to them, they’ll be okay.
My community was under attack by a confluence between the elites who run our society and the bleeding hearts who let them import poverty for the sake of wage reduction. I won’t stand for it. On my 25-unit block, 12 or 13 units were multiple-family flophouses. I’m not willing to let my city deteriorate into a ghetto where the poverty level overwhelms the tax base.
If my anger manifests itself in dirty looks or snide comments, so be it. I’m so much angrier than that.
SA, isn’t this the Republican, entrepreneurial way – find an unserviced niche and open a business to supply the demand? 😉
Rick Bentley, do you think your neighbors would have organized in as large a group and appeared at BOCS meetings to demand that Neighborhood Services and the PD address your problems (zoning, overcrowding, untagged cars) without involving the immigration issue? Did they need that bogeyman to get them motivated?