Dreams Deferred: Immigrants wait more, pay more, vote less

ICIRR Policy Director Fred Tsao journeyed to Washington this week to testify before a Congressional Subcommittee about the impact of the tremendous backlogs to obtaining citizenship that immigrants across the country now face. The agency that processes citizenship applications, USCIS (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services), was not equipped to handle the recent influx of new registrations, which was caused by the agency’s own decision to steeply increase citizenship fees last July (by 70%).

This processing backlog of sixteen to eighteen months means that legal residents who had rushed to become citizens in time to vote in the 2008 elections will be left out to dry, their dreams of full participation in our country needlessly placed on hold.

"'The price of USCIS's failed leadership and poor planning is the disenfranchisement of those immigrants who have played by the rules,' said Eliseo Medina, executive vice president of the Service Employees International Union," in a recent Wall Street Journal article.

Read ICIRR Policy Director Fred Tsao’s testimony here, download the press release, or read more in the Wall Street Journal or Chicago Tribune.

Papers Confront Party Leader on Immigration

The mainstream media is now confronting Democratic Party Leader Rahm Emanuel (5th Congressional District- IL) about his "political cowardice" on immigration. A recent New York Times editorial, referring to Congressman Emanuel, states, "The natural allies of immigrants have been cowed into mumbling or silent avoidance." This at a time when, according to a recent Chicago Sun-Times column, "Republicans are having a field day taking a hard line and blaming illegal immigrants for everything wrong with this country."

Enough is enough. It's time for both party's leaders to stand up for what is right, make an honest effort to fix our broken laws, and denounce the scapegoating of immigrants for political gain. The American public, and the people whose hard work fuels our economy, deserve no less.

Ads Attack Emanuel for Failure to Support Immigrants

The progressive blogosphere lit up this week with news that Democratic Party Leader Rahm Emanuel (5th Congressional District- IL) supports the SAVE Act (HR4088), legislation that takes an enforcement-only approach to immigration reform- with no path for the undocumented to gain legal status.

To the left is a copy of the Spanish newspaper ad published in Hoy on November 15th, 2007, that asks the question, Why is Congressman Emanuel Betraying our Friends and Families? Read the full text in English, or download a copy in Korean. The ads were paid for by Blue America and approved by the Illinois Coalition.

Immigrant advocates and netroots activists were already shocked by Emanuel's remarks in last week's Chicago Tribune article, where he called immigration "the new third rail of politics." This came just months after the Congressman pledged to move a comprehensive reform bill forward last spring. Listen to the NPR story here.

The ad urges people to Call Congressman Emanuel now at (773) 267-5926 and tell him, "Stop being afraid to fight for immigrants, and start acting like a real leader." Send a fax or email to your Representative, saying NO to SAVE.

For more information about these ads, contact Catherine Salgado at csalgado@icirr.org. For more on the "rubber chicken campaign" that ICIRR launched during the Yearly Kos convention, click here.