Inclusion Daily Express -- Post-9/11 Rules Hold Up Citizenship Process For Thousands Of Immigrants With Disabilities

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Post-9/11 Rules Hold Up Citizenship Process For Thousands Of Immigrants With Disabilities
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
January 3, 2007

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA--Bureaucratic red tape put in place after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks have led thousands of refugees with disabilities seeking U.S. citizenship to lose benefits, a lawsuit filed last month alleges.

The suit, filed in federal court by Community Legal Services in Philadelphia, represents about a half-dozen immigrants, but seeks class-action status to cover about 6,000 who have lost Social Security benefits because a 1996 welfare reform law cuts immigrants from benefits if they have not gained citizenship within seven years.

According to the Washington Post, a Social Security Administration official said the agency has repeatedly asked Congress to extend the deadline to at least eight years because of the increased background checks immigration officials are required to perform. The agency estimates that over the next five years, about 46,000 more people will be in the same situation.

"They are invited to this country because they're fleeing persecution," said Jonathan Stein, an attorney for Community Legal Services. "The only thing they lack is citizenship, and that's not for lack of trying."

The defendants in the suit include the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Office of Citizenship and Immigration Services, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and others.

Related:
"U.S. Sued Over Dropping of Benefits for Disabled" (Washington Post)
http://www.inclusiondaily.com/news/07/red/0103e.htm
"Suit: Refugees Unfairly Losing Benefits" (Washington Post)
http://www.inclusiondaily.com/news/07/red/0103f.htm
"Opinion: Handicapped immigrants" (International Herald Tribune)
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/01/01/opinion/edimmig.php
"50 Bosnians become citizens at last" (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
http://www.inclusiondaily.com/news/07/red/0103g.htm
"September 11, 2001 and Beyond: The Impact of the Terror Attacks on People With Disabilities" (Inclusion Daily Express Archives)
http://www.inclusiondaily.com/news/01/911.htm

Copyright © 2007 Inonit Publishing
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