BY HELENA POLEO

In the 2006 elections, Luciano Horna could not vote because he wasn't a U.S. citizen, but his wife and two grown daughters did because they became naturalized quickly.

The entire family had sought U.S. citizenship in November 2005. In May the following year, Horna's wife and two daughters pledged allegiance to the United States.

Horna continues to wait, but the 60-year-old Panamanian has had enough. He is among 10 South Florida immigrants who have filed a lawsuit against U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI and the Justice Department for having to endure an ''extraordinary'' wait to become a U.S. citizen. The plaintiffs include immigrants from Russia, Cuba, Panama, Guyana, Morocco, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Lawyers for the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center, which is representing the 10, said Thursday that all are permanent U.S. residents and all passed their citizenship interviews. However, they've been waiting between two and four years for approval.

''All we want is for them to be given the rights they deserve,'' said Tania Galloni, a FIAC lawyer.

U.S. law stipulates that every applicant should get word from the U.S. government about his or her citizenship petition within four months of an interview. It's been years for Horna and the other plaintiffs.

''They just keep saying that it's the name check'' that's causing the delay, said Horna, who has had a green card for nine years.

The FBI checks are conducted to ensure that the names don't match anyone on a list of terrorists. That step began in 2002, after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

The process can take time, said Paul Bresson, an FBI spokesman in Washington, because in many cases the checks must be done manually, consulting paper files.

The process has many critics, including the USCIS ombudsman. They say the checks are wasting resources and are unnecessary.

Facing multiple complaints, USCIS and the FBI announced in April a plan meant to reduce the wait. According to the agencies, any name checks that have taken more than three years should have cleared by May.

Though Bresson said he could not comment on a pending lawsuit, he said the agency had completed checks that were more than four years old.

USCIS spokeswoman Ana Santiago also reiterated Bresson's timeline.

''As we had announced several months ago, all of these cases that were more than 4 years old were eliminated from the waiting list in May, as we specified in the elimination plan. Everything suggests that the names that have been waiting more than 3 years were also eliminated in May,'' Santiago said.

Under the government's plan, the name checks should be up to date by 2009.

But FIAC lawyers noted that they have cases of people who have waited for six years.

''In South Florida they don't seem to be meeting the parameters they announced,'' said Galloni. "When we ask about their cases, they only get the same answer they have gotten for years: wait.''

FIAC Executive Director Cheryl Little said her office decided to file the suit because it has been bombarded with complaints about the long waits.

''This is the most effective way to help our clients,'' she said. ``We're sure that there are hundreds, if not thousands, of people in South Florida that could join this class-action lawsuit.''