Among those waiting is Laura Muñoz, who’s originally from Colombia and submitted her paperwork nearly a year ago. “But the 26-year-old hasn’t heard back about the next step in her naturalization process, even though she is in the final stages,” the report continued. “With the early October voter registration deadline in Florida quickly approaching, she is no longer confident about her prospect of voting for the first time this year.”
Many have been delayed due to a circumstances completely out of their hands: Boundless, a company that assists immigrants with their paperwork, said in April that it estimated that over 125,000 people were nearing the citizenship finish line when the novel coronavirus pandemic forced USCIS office closures. But when immigrants pleaded to be sworn in virtually so they could complete the process, USCIS adamantly refused. Some immigrants had to sue, and won.
USCIS has since resumed some office openings and smaller, in-person naturalizations, but it’s clearly not enough—and that’s also the government’s own doing: “[T]here’s USCIS using its resources—paid by customers for efficient processing of forms—to fund enforcement normally reserved for ICE and the Department of Justice,” immigrant rights advocacy group America’s Voice said in May. Keeping USCIS open is one thing, but trying to keep it fair for families is another.
Umaima Abbasi, originally from Pakistan, told The Post that her dad called her after seeing the group of immigrants who became citizens during a Trump campaign stunt at the Republican National Convention last week. “Why can’t you also be on national TV at the RNC getting naturalized?” she said he told her.
“I was like, ‘These people really deserve it. They are thriving. Hopefully, life is so much greater for them moving forward,’” she told The Post. “But I was also thinking ... ‘How many other people are in my situation?’ Probably plenty, too many to even think of. ... It was really heartbreaking for me to think about that.” According to The Post, Abbasi’s naturalization paperwork went from “in progress” to “paused” without anyone telling her why. So she waits.