Re: West Coast Events.
February 28, 2007 at 7:30 p.m
CAIR-LA to Hold Naturalization Delay Lawsuit Meeting
The Southern California office of the Council on American-Islamic
Relations is hosting a Naturalization Delay Lawsuit Meeting next week to
provide an update on the status of CAIR's action to assist those with
this delay.
Last year, CAIR and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) worked on
a lawsuit which seeks to assist those people who would be able to turn
to the judicial system for assistance with their long delays in
Naturalization processing. With the help of Ranjana Natarajan, staff
attorney with the ACLU, a lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles on behalf of
ten Southland Muslims from Orange, Los Angeles and San Bernardino
counties. These individuals had been waiting for two or more years for
their "name check" to clear with the FBI.
In October 2006, the government agreed to grant citizenship to seven of
our ten plaintiffs in return for dismissing their cases. Those seven
went on to have oath ceremonies in November. In January 2006, two more
plaintiffs were granted citizenship, and the final plaintiff got an
answer on his case after several years. In return, all of the plaintiffs
dismissed the lawsuit. While the 10 plaintiffs have received a decision
on their applications, CAIR and the ACLU continue to fight on behalf of
many other persons in Southern California.
CAIR and the ACLU will be holding a meeting next week to discuss the
next steps for the lawsuit.
WHAT: Naturalization Delay Lawsuit Meeting
WHEN: Wednesday, February 28, 2007 at 7:30 p.m. RSVP at 714-776-1847.
WHERE: Those wishing to attend will be informed of the location once
they RSVP.
CONTACT: This event is specifically for Citizenship Delay and requires
an RSVP. Please contact the CAIR office at 714-776-1847 to RSVP for the
event.
Like any litigation, this lawsuit will take some time to resolve. We
understand that this process is time-consuming and that those affected
have been patiently waiting for a long time. Those who would like to
proceed with individual lawsuits may do so at any time. Please contact
CAIR and we can refer people to an attorney who can assist with this
effort.
COUNCIL ON AMERICAN-ISLAMIC RELATIONS (CAIR)
Southern California
2180 W. Crescent Ave., Suite F
Anaheim, CA 92801
Tel: (714) 776-1847
Fax: (714) 776-8340