Application for U.S. citizenship delayed by USCIS
OA immigrated to the United States in 1999 as a child of a lawful permanent resident. Two years later, government attorneys arrested him as a material witness to testify before a grand jury who indicted two young men he barely knew from work and his musjid who were involved in the 9/11 attacks. He filed his first citizenship application in 2007, which USCIS denied after it intentionally misunderstood his answers to questions about material support of terrorism. His second application has been pending since January 2020 – almost five years– for no legitimate reason. USCIS initially scheduled an interview for August 2023. However, the interviewing officer informed him that day it would quickly be rescheduled. This turned out to be a blatant lie.
Verdict/Ruling:The case remains ongoing
IMPACT
MLFA skillfully uses administrative remedies and federal courts to fight U.S. immigration agencies’ bias towards Muslim non-citizens based on guilt-by-association.