With all the focus on illegal immigration and the fence, this is a story that might have slipped through the cracks.
The Washington Post reports that the Bush Administration is looking at making it more difficult for legal immigrants to become U.S. Citizens.
The proposals being drafted by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), a division of the Department of Homeland Security, could nearly double application fees, toughen the required English and history exams, and ask probing questions about an applicant's past, such as "Who is your current wife's ex-husband?"
Yes. You read that last part right. It is apparently necessary for the Federal Government to know who your wife divorced before you can become a U.S. citizen. The article doesn't say whether that's for American wives or foreign wives.
This next quote makes more sense. They are replacing an atrociously easy question, but with a nasty trick question:
The office might also replace questions such as "What are the colors of the flag?" Bentley said, to "What is one of the fundamental principles protected by the Constitution?"
The correct answer to the second question is obviously "None, under the Bush Administration)."
They're also looking at doubling the application fee to $800 per applicant, according to the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights.
Groups such as the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights said that a near-doubling of the $400 application fee is being considered, and that the new fee would be more than legal residents who earn a minimum wage can pay. "It's going to take twice as long for those people to save up money to apply for citizenship," said Fred Tsao, policy director for the coalition. "You won't have Mom, Dad and children all going to the citizenship ceremony together. You'll have Mom going first, then Dad, then maybe the children."
I'm glad my Grandpa came over in the 20's when it was easier and probably a more fair policy provided he could clear the medical screening Ellis Island.