The winding path to American citizenship has gotten a lot more complicated for many immigrants waiting to become naturalized. They can apply after maintaining permanent residency for five years. But while the final step of obtaining citizenship previously took roughly six months to complete, The Washington Post reports that under the current administration, it could take up to two years.
Suspect in Synagogue Slayings Spewed Online Hate for Jews
Once Trump won the presidential election in 2016, many immigrants living in the United States said they felt pressured to apply for citizenship because of the former reality star’s stance on people from what he called “shithole countries.”
As a result, there was a 27 percent surge in citizenship applications in 2016, which created a bottleneck and major backlogs. Of the more than 700,000 people waiting for their applications to be processed, most will have to wait 10 months for a resolution. And, according to The Post, it will take as many as “22 months in Atlanta and as long as 26 months in parts of Texas.”
Source: Immigrants Seeking American Citizenship Face Extreme Delays
