Washington, D.C. – HIAS,
the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, strongly supports “The Citizenship
Promotion Act of 2007,” introduced today by Senator Barack Obama
(D-Ill.) and Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.).  This important legislation
seeks to assist immigrants in becoming citizens, to promote citizenship
opportunities and to remove barriers to naturalization.  This
legislation will enable immigrants to embrace American life in the
fullest possible way.

“Immigrants are facing a nearly $300 naturalization fee increase
proposed recently by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
(USCIS), delays in background checks that protract the citizenship
process, not enough available English classes, and other obstacles that
make it difficult to naturalize in a reasonable timeframe,” says Gideon
Aronoff, president and CEO of HIAS.  “We commend this legislative
effort to champion the broader issue of how we can help hard-working
immigrants pursue their dreams of being fully integrated in their new
home country.”

“Following our Jewish community mandate to welcome the stranger, it
is imperative that we do all that we can to honor our moral obligation
and American traditions in helping immigrants further their goals of
becoming American citizens.  The Citizenship Promotion Act is
significant as it aspires to help the most vulnerable new Americans and
to eliminate unnecessary hardships.  We are hopeful that with
improvements to the current citizenship process, we can continue our
history as a welcoming nation.”

HIAS also supports the authorization of funding through the annual
appropriations process.  USCIS’ current funding structure, which is 99
percent fee-based, is an unreasonable and untenable means for
supporting quality and timely immigrant services, according to HIAS. 

“We strongly believe that it is in our national interest and to
immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers that there be federal funding
to augment USCIS’ capacity to provide essential services without adding
further burdens to low income immigrant families,” says Aronoff.  “We
are hopeful that with the passage of this legislation, immigrants will
no longer have to bear this financial burden of the agency, while
gaining a real opportunity to become U.S. citizens.”