Litigation Jihad cont'd.

Eager to vote, Moslems file stack of lawsuits over citizenship delays.

The article cites a Palestinian who has lived in the US for 17 years, but who didn't get around to applying for citizenship until 2006 for some reason. He has a wife and son living in Palestine and now he's complaining that he won't be able to vote for Barack Obama if his citizenship isn't approved. His suit is sponsored by the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center in Miami and yes, CAIR is in the woodpile.

Shadi Odeh has lived 17 of his 31 years in the United States.

He is a Palestinian, transplanted at age 14 to Texas, where he was a boisterous Dallas Cowboys fan. In 1999 he moved to South Florida, where he embraced basketball's Miami Heat, which he watches on a wide-screen TV, eating chicken wings and Italian food. His favorite TV show is The Simpsons.

Odeh says he has become an American in every way but one: He has so far been denied citizenship and the right to vote. He very much wants to vote in November - for a Democrat.

You can read more of Shadi's sob story below the fold, but here's a little fact to keep in mind before you do. From the article Lawsuit loosens citizenship backlog.

Ana Santiago, a spokeswoman for the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services, said that as of March, the agency had 72,000 name checks pending with the FBI in which the applicant has waited more than six months.

That's less than 5 percent of the 1.5 million annual total.

But that's still not good enough for our Moslem friends.

"Barack Obama is a very good candidate, but it is also time to have a woman president," he says. "I would vote for one of those two."

The question is whether he will be able to register. Odeh passed his naturalization exam and citizenship interviews in 2006, but FBI name checks have delayed his swearing-in for more than two years.

Those checks, instituted after the Sept. 11 attacks, involve comparing an applicant's name with names in FBI criminal and intelligence files to see whether the person is a security threat. Even if an applicant's name matches only an acquaintance of a suspect or a witness to an event, approval can be delayed.

Those FBI procedures come on top of security checks performed by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which grants or denies citizenship.

The process can take time, too much time for some would-be citizens, especially in an election year.

Odeh is one of six South Florida Muslims who in December sued the federal government, charging that their citizenship applications have been delayed "unreasonably and unlawfully" by name checks. Federal statutes, they insist, require the government to render a decision within 120 days of the interviews.

Plaintiffs in the lawsuit include Osama Qasmieh, a Royal Palm Beach engineer originally from Jordan who has not been outside the U.S. in 20 years. His application has been delayed six years.

They also include another Jordanian, Belle Glade resident Mohammed Abdeen. A relative petitioned 20 years ago for him to be allowed into the U.S., and Abdeen arrived seven years ago. He passed his exam two years ago.

The lawsuit and another brought by five other South Florida Muslims last year are part of an avalanche of suits across the country.

"Hundreds of thousands of people nationally have been delayed," says Tania Galloni, an attorney for the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center in Miami. "In New York, it's Russians. In California, it's Chinese. In Florida, we have seen a disproportionate number of Muslims affected."

Being denied the right to vote is one way the plaintiffs say they have been damaged.

The delays could affect the November elections, says Altaf Ali, executive director of the South Florida Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

He says there are about 200,000 Muslims in Florida, and among those eligible to vote, turnout is traditionally high.

"This year a lot of people in our community are very interested in Barack Obama being the next president," Ali said. "I myself am a Republican, but I won't vote Republican this year." He's backing Obama.

The lawsuits have brought a response from the government. Last month it issued a statement saying extra personnel had been assigned to name checks and backlogged citizenship applications.

"The goal is to complete 98 percent of all name checks within 30 days," the statement said. Citizenship and Immigration Services "and the FBI intend to resolve the remaining 2 percent, which represent the most difficult name checks ... within 90 days or less."

The statement said 29,800 cases that have been pending two years or more would receive priority. Those cases include Odeh, Qasmieh and Abdeen.

The statement also said all cases of people waiting for more than four years had been resolved recently. But Galloni says that is not true of Qasmieh, who has been waiting six years.

FBI spokesman Bill Carter says that he has no explanation for the Qasmieh case but that about 300 FBI workers and outside contractors are doing name checks. The most time-consuming cases involve common names.

"If your name is Mohammed, that's probably going to take more time," Carter says. "It's like having the name John Smith."

Carter says the important thing is to reach "accurate and thorough results" regarding possible threats to the nation.

He says about 1 percent of people investigated are given a "negative" report. That report goes to Citizenship and Immigration Services, which is likely to deny those citizenship requests.

"But we are also very sensitive to the impact that the delays have on individuals," Carter says.

Odeh, who married while on a 2006 trip to the Palestinian territories and has a 1-year-old son there, hopes his case is resolved so he can start the process of bringing his wife and child to the U.S.

"Any person who loves this country the way I do understands the need for security," Odeh says. "But I've never committed a crime or threatened anyone or was involved with anyone who did. I wish they would just figure this all out."