Federal Courts Want $14 Fee, But Delay Swearing In New Citizens

Federal courts in a number of major cities apparently are happy to get a $14.09 fee for each immigrant to whom a judge administers a citizenship oath. But several are not conducting citizenship ceremonies in a timely manner, according to a report by a government ombudsman.

"In one of the nation's busiest courts, a judge's delay caused nearly 2,000 people to not receive the oath in time to register for November's general election, according to the ombudsman for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Michael Dougherty," writes the Washington Post.

He apparently did not identify the city in which this happened, but the newspaper notes that federal courts in Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles and New York retain exclusive jurisdiction over naturalization cases. USCIS can also administer the citizenship oath there, but only with court permission (unless citizens-to-be have been waiting more than 45 days for the oath to be administered)—which was denied by one federal district court judge this summer, although the judge didn't have time to administer the oaths, either, according to the newspaper.

Dougherty's 13-page report (PDF), which was posted yesterday on his office's website, says courts in these exclusive-jurisdiction areas need to give greater priority to administering the citizenship oath. It also states that several unnamed federal judges have made inappropriate remarks concerning naturalization matters.