Instant democrats - new US citizens

National Review, July 1, 1996 by Thomas McArdle

THE U.S. Government, under the direction of the Clinton Administration, is undertaking a massive emergency operation with a level of zeal appropriate for wartime.

The vital national interest at stake? Swearing in as many new citizens as possible.

"Citizenship USA," costing $79 million in new funding for fiscal years 1995 - 96, is likely to mean a record of over a million new citizens sworn in this year, more than twice than last year. The numbers have surged under the Clinton Administration, from fewer than 243,000 applications approved by the Immigration and Naturalization Service in 1992 to over 403,000 in 1994, a 66 per cent increase.

Hundreds of staff from the Internal Revenue Service and other federal agencies are being shifted over to help the INS process applications. Since last fall, the INS has opened huge new processing centers and expanded existing facilities in the areas surrounding the cities of Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami, New York, and Chicago. The agency is advertising in the local classifieds for temporary workers to help.

Meanwhile, the process has become a lot easier for applicants. The time between applying for citizenship and taking the oath has been cut down from 15 to 10 months in many areas. The oral interview has been shortened. The required exam has been dumbed down to a multiple-choice quiz. The exam used to be taken individually; now fifty at a time take it, and, in another new feature, applicants are given packets with dummy tests ahead of time.

What is behind this unprecedented push? Last month, one INS official confided to the Washington Times's Ruth Larson, "I feel like a campaign worker." When this official expressed concern, according to the Times, a White House staffer offered this reply: "Quite frankly, it's 250,000 more registered voters who are likely to vote Democratic."

After the swearing in of two thousand citizens on a Saturday in May at the INS center in Garden City, New York, just outside New York City, an INS official unguardedly conceded as much to me, unaware that I was a reporter but without my even asking.

"This is a big push," he told me. "Right now they're killing us." Then he flashed a sly smile. "It's prepping up for the election. That's the policy coming down from the Administration."

Now whether you dislike immigration as much as Peter Brimelow or like it as much as Julian Simon, this policy is indefensible. Jack Kennedy had Mayor Daley's Chicago machine to steal the 1960 election for him; Bill Clinton may have the INS to thank in 1996 if, say, immigrant-rich California provides the margin of victory.

Congress already smells a rat. Freshman Rep. Mark Souder (R., Ind.) is asking INS Commissioner Doris Meissner to provide evidence that her agency is not engaged in a politically motivated operation designed to increase Democratic votes in November. (Republicans should be careful, however, in going on the political attack. Mrs. Meissner's husband was killed with Commerce Secretary Ron Brown on his ill-fated flight in the Balkans.)

The Citizenship U.S.A. crusade has special significance for the voters of California. In the wake of Prop. 187, and given the popularity of Pat Buchanan in the early primaries, hundreds of thousands of aliens have now applied for citizenship, fearing that the immigration drawbridge was about to be lifted. Citizenship applications doubled from FY 1994 to FY 1995, reaching over 1.02 million, and this is the official rationale for the INS's initiative.

But what it boils down to is that after California voters deny government services to illegal aliens, the President nullifies their votes by making as many aliens as possible U.S. citizens, especially targeting California. The Los Angeles district alone can now process 2,500 cases a day, up from 650 last August. The district's staff has increased from 99 to 292. The Los Angeles Convention Center has been holding mass swearings in of ten thousand in a single day. If Republicans are smart (always a big if), they will make the most of this in their California campaign against Clinton.

In Garden City, New York, the two-story concrete monstrosity just opened in April by the INS takes up two-thirds of a mall. Office windows are shielded by blinds, but a peek through a crack in one reveals the magnitude of the INS's operation. One room no bigger than 30 by 50 feet had 15 computer screens crowded side by side. Presumably that is just a fraction of the INS's frantic operations in the building, which serve only Long Island.

In addition, the low-ceilinged auditorium where swearing in takes place seats almost 1,000. The endless rows of fluorescent lights remind you you're in a government building, which the surprisingly comfy seats almost make you forget. It was the fourth session that day: two thousand new citizens in a single day; a total of three thousand that week.

Swearing in citizens was a dignified ceremony presided over by a judge back in the 1950s when my parents became Americans. In itself, seeing immigrants become citizens is still moving: but the ceremony has mutated into a spectacle of self-indulgence for government drones. The day I went to Garden City, after the soon-to-be citizens had stood in line for hours, blue-blazered ushers -- or, rather, "District Adjudications Officers" -- escorted us to our seats, where we waited for another hour and a half before the proceedings began.