SERGIO BUSTOS
Citizen Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration will unveil an aggressive strategy today to eliminate a staggering backlog of immigration applications over the next two years.
The plan is designed to ease the process for millions of immigrants seeking to become legal residents and U.S. citizens.

Eduardo Aguirre, director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the agency charged with serving newcomers to the United States, said he will modernize computer systems, shift personnel to district offices with high numbers of cases and create a culture of customer service to reduce the pile of 3.7 million backlogged applications.

"Our goal is to process the right applicant with the right benefit in the right amount of time," Aguirre said in an interview Tuesday with Gannett News Service.

Aguirre outlined further details yesterday before the House Judiciary subcommittee on immigration, border security and claims. The committee is reviewing the "detrimental impact" of the application backlog on families of those seeking legal residency and citizenship.

Plans to improve services for immigrants come in an election year when Citizenship and Immigration Services has been widely criticized by immigrant advocates and Hispanic organizations for failing to process immigration applications in a timely manner.

The criticism only grew louder this year when the agency raised filing fees on more than two dozen immigration forms.

Aguirre said the 2001 terrorist attacks forced his agency to closely scrutinize applicants by requiring more extensive background checks.

The agency's new goal is to eliminate the backlog of applications and process applications within six months by Sept. 30, 2006, fulfilling a promise President Bush made during his 2000 presidential campaign.

It's a tall order. The agency processes 6 million applications a year. Individuals seeking a green card wait 23 months, on average, to complete the process. Those wanting to become U.S. citizens wait an average 14 months. Wait times vary across the agency's district offices.

Aguirre said the agency will move adjudicators - those who review immigration applications - between district offices to reduce the backlog of applications and improve wait times. They also plan to identify "low-risk" applicants and encourage adjudicators to make decisions without requesting further evidence on routine cases.

Immigration advocates said the agency's latest plan doesn't go far enough to solve the agency's woes in serving the country's 33 million foreign-born residents.

"These are welcome reforms, but the agency can't get away from the fact that it needs more money to do the job," said Judy Golub, of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. "They need to upgrade their computer systems, and that costs money. They need to hire more full-time staff, and that costs money."