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NEW STUDY SHOWS INCREASE IN CITIZENSHIP APPLICATION DENIALS
The National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials has released a study of naturalization statistics, comparing the number of people granted and denied citizenship between the first quarter of fiscal year 1998 (Oct. 1997 to Dec. 1997) and the first quarter of 1999 (Oct. 1998 to Dec. 1998). While noting and approving of the INS’ effort to reduce the citizenship backlog, the group expressed concern about the escalating numbers of denials of applications from Hispanic applicants. 
In 11 large cities, the study found, the number of denials increased from 19,111 over the last three months of 1997 to 86,674 during the last three months of 1998, a rise of over 353%, while the number of applications granted over the same period rose from 101,727 to 149,571, a 47% rise. According to INS spokeswoman Elaine Comis, one of the reasons for the rising numbers is "a request to our field offices to clean out the old cases." Another reason cited for the rise is that many applicants lost interest in citizenship after the federal government announced that public benefits would not be taken away from noncitizens. 
The NALEO report expresses concern about certain bureaucratic principles they suspect have led to inappropriate denials of citizenship. These practices include closing cases because of the applicants failure to attend their citizenship interviews, when the applicant was never notified of the time or place of the interview; denials of cases on the ground the applicant failed to submit additional information, when the applicant never received notice of the request for additional information; and denials on the ground that applicants failed to meet the requirements for a waiver of the English language requirement.