INS Says New Citizens Can Vote Only After Swearing-In Ceremony

In response to revelations that noncitizens voted in the Nov. 5 election, the Immigration and Naturalization Service is adding language to a letter to prospective citizens that clarifies they are not citizens until they attend a swearing-in ceremony.

INS District Director Richard Rogers, whose Los Angeles office oversees 10 counties including Orange County, also said he has suspended a relationship between the INS and Hermandad Mexicana Nacional, a regional Latino rights group that may have signed up noncitizens to vote.

INS officers will no longer conduct citizenship interviews at Hermandad offices in Santa Ana and at two Los Angeles locations, Rogers said. Nearly two years ago, the agency began conducting the interviews at Hermandad to help deal with an overwhelming number of new citizens.

Eighteen legal residents who were in the process of becoming citizens through classes at Hermandad said they registered to vote at the Santa Ana office after passing a citizenship test or an INS interview. All voted before being sworn in--a felony that could result in prosecution and deportation.

The INS is cooperating with the Orange County district attorney’s office in investigating noncitizen voting in the past election, Rogers said.

After passing the INS interview, all prospective citizens were handed a letter that begins: “Congratulations! Your application for naturalization has been approved. To complete the naturalization process, you must now take the oath of allegiance before a judge of the United States District Court.”

The letter ends, “Once again, congratulations on passing your citizenship interview.”

Several new citizens and noncitizens said they were confused about the point at which an applicant becomes a citizen, and that they thought the naturalization ceremony was a formality.

Rogers said the letter and INS officers who conducted the interview made clear that citizenship begins during the swearing in. “We try our best with the letter and with an explanation to indicate [when citizenship begins],” he said. “But there’s always a possibility that somebody could have misunderstood.”

“We’re going to add a phrase. It will probably say something direct like, ‘You’re not a citizen yet,’ ” Rogers said.

Rogers also said the INS plans to prosecute any citizenship applicants who knowingly registered or voted before they were sworn in. He said that the agency would investigate those who were sworn in during the past two months since the election, and that INS officers will now ask all prospective citizens in interviews whether they voted.

Meanwhile, Hermandad issued a statement saying it is conducting an internal investigation and will provide legal counsel to any members who are contacted by the INS or the district attorney’s office.

“Hermandad Mexicana Nacional takes these allegations very seriously,” the statement said. “It has never been the policy or practice of HMN to condone, promote or encourage anyone to vote before they have completed the entire citizenship process.”

In a newspaper it publishes, Hermandad urged anyone contacted by reporters or investigators to refer the caller to Hermandad.

Rogers said that under a law that took effect in September, any organization that knowingly registers noncitizens to vote could be charged with a felony. He would not comment on the status of the investigation.

Rogers said the suspension of INS interviews at Hermandad offices will affect 600 to 700 people in January alone. All interviews will be rescheduled to INS offices in Bellflower, and the applicants will be notified by mail, he said.