Backlog

From the Washington Post-

Jin Ju Yoo, a stay-at-home mother who immigrated from South Korea in 1990 and applied for U.S. citizenship in 2002, would seem a minimal security risk. So say friends in Clarksburg, Md., where Yoo, 36, plays drums at a Presbyterian church and raises three children with her husband, a flooring contractor. Her husband and children are citizens.

The would-be American is still waiting for approval, however, because the FBI has not completed a security check of her name against its more than 86 million investigative files. Neither the bureau nor the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services agency will say why.

FBI security-check delays and a surge of naturalization applications are causing backlogs at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to grow again, despite an infusion of $500 million that slashed wait lists from their 2004 peak. Nearly all remaining cases are outside USCIS's control — awaiting FBI checks, visas or action by applicants. Legislation pending in Congress could allow millions more to apply.

Since 2005, the backlog of legal U.S. immigrants whose applications for naturalization and other benefits are stuck on hold awaiting FBI name checks has doubled to 329,160, prompting a flood of lawsuits in federal courts, bureaucratic finger-pointing in Washington and tough scrutiny by 2008 presidential candidates.

At a time when Congress is intensely focused on border security, the growing backlog is one of the most visible signs of the U.S. immigration system's breakdown, current and former government officials said.

Only more proof of how messed up Immigration is in this country. Not that delays are anything new. It took over five months for me to get an alien relative visa for my Philippine born wife in 1989. That same process takes at least a year now. Think of our US servicemen overseas, they marry even start a family. Then they have to PCS home. I can't name the milblogger, but he is still trying to get his wife citizenship. If their spouse hasn't gotten a visa yet, they have to stay behind. My wife Leonita had to in 1989.

Hat tip- Michelle Malkin who says the present backlog should be fixed before any other immigration reform is done. I agree, but have to admit there will always be some backlog. It is a crime it has gotten to this point.
Linked to- Adam, Point Five, Third World County, Webloggin,