The Chicago Office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Chicago) recently filed two complaints on behalf of Middle-Eastern men who alleged the USCIS has unlawfully delayed the processing of their citizenship applications.

The Northern District Court of Illinois today granted a Chicago Muslim man his citizenship after the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Chicago) filed a lawsuit against the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) for its delay in processing the application.

On August 29th, 2006, one of the first complainants of CAIR-Chicago's Citizenship Delay Project took the oath of allegiance to the United States of America, finally becoming a U.S. citizen after waiting for over two years after taking his citizenship examination. The man's application, alongside countless other Muslims, had been pending security and background checks.

Christina Abraham, CAIR-Chicago Civil Rights Coordinator, met with representatives of the Arab American Action Network (AAAN) Director Hatem Abudayyeh, Suzanne Adely, and Menna Khalil to finalize political, outreach, and media strategies for the Citizenship Delay Project. The Citizenship Delay Project is set to launch within the next few weeks.

CAIR-Chicago met with the Arab American Action Network at the CAIR-Chicago office to develop strategies for the next phase of the Citizenship Delay Project. The next phase of the project will include a political/media campaign to raise awareness and garner public support, legal remedies for the dozens of cases that have been reported to both organizations on the issue, outreaching to the Muslim community to spread awareness on the issue, and a publication that will detail the course of the project and the findings of research and investigation on the issue.