Schakowsky Joins Sen. Obama and Rep. Gutierrez to Introduce the Citizenship Promotion Act

SCHAKOWSKY JOINS SEN. OBAMA AND REP. GUTIERREZ TO INTRODUCE THE CITIZENSHIP PROMOTION ACT

WASHINGTON, DC--U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) joined Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) and Congressman Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) today to introduce the Citizenship Promotion Act. This legislation would reject the drastic increases in the immigration application fees recently proposed by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

"The Citizenship Promotion Act will remove the financial barriers that prohibit immigrants from becoming citizens of the United States,... said U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky. "Instead of making it more expensive and more difficult to become a citizen, we should create a fairer system that provides immigrants with an affordable and reasonable path to citizenship. Under the current proposal, the USCIS would discourage immigrants from becoming full and active participants in our society....

The USCIS has proposed raising the application fees for immigration services across the board. Under their proposal, the cost of applying for naturalization would climb by more 80 percent to $595 per person. The fee to file for a green card would soar from $325 to $905 per person. The USCIS is also in the process of developing an electronic filing system that may become the only way to file regardless of whether a person has access to and understanding of the internet. Each of these proposals makes it even more difficult for hard working immigrants who are legally trying to pursue the dream of becoming American citizens.

The Citizenship Promotion Act would prohibit the USCIS from raising immigration service fees until the USCIS has studied and reported the need for the increases to Congress. The legislation authorizes Congress to appropriate funds to the USCIS for the immigration application process so that immigrants are not forced to bear the entire cost of their application. The legislation will also expedite the application process by supporting efforts to educate immigrants about the legal citizenship process, making electronic filing voluntary, and requesting a Government Accountability Office investigation into delays into the background check process.

The National Council of La Raza, the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund, the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, the National Immigration Forum, the National Immigrant Justice Center, the Asian American Justice Center, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, Legal Momentum, the American Immigration Lawyers Association, the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago, and the Massachusetts Immigration and Refugee Advocacy Coalition have all endorsed the Citizenship Promotion Act.