ACTIVISTS STAGE PROTEST\Delays at INS draw fire from would-be citizens.Byline: Luz Villarreal Daily News Staff Writer More than 150 activists protested outside the downtown federal building Tuesday against citizenship processing delays they say could prevent 300,000 immigrants from becoming citizens in time to vote in November. The protesters waved American flags, chanted "We Want To Vote" and demanded to meet with Richard Rogers For the American composer, see . Richard George Rogers, Baron Rogers of Riverside FRIBA (born 23 July 1933) is a British architect noted for his modernist and functionalist designs. , district director of the Immigration and Naturalization Service Noun 1. Immigration and Naturalization Service - an agency in the Department of Justice that enforces laws and regulations for the admission of foreign-born persons to the United States INS . Leaders of Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, Organizing Committee and Valley Organized in Community Efforts (VOICE) - which runs several citizenship outreach centers in the Valley - said they protested after being denied a meeting with Rogers. "Mr. Rogers is not giving us service," said the Rev. Pat Murphy Pat Murphy may refer to one of the following individuals:
VOICE and SCOC SCOC Supreme Court of Canada SCOC Second Coming of Christ SCOC System Control and Operations Concept SCOC Saginaw Community Outreach Center (Saginaw, Michigan) organized outreach sites as part of an effort known as Active Citizenship Active citizenship generally refers to a philosophy espoused by some organizations and educational institutions. It often states that members of companies or nation-states have certain roles and responsibilities to society and the environment, although those members may not have Campaign, a two-year project to help 25,000 permanent Los Angeles County residents become legal citizens. Organizers said Rogers promised them a three-month turnaround period for citizenship interviews when he approved their outreach locations, where volunteers help immigrants navigate the citizenship process and forward their applications to the INS INS abbr. 1. Immigration and Naturalization Service 2. International News Service Noun 1. INS . After immigrants complete their paperwork, they must be interviewed by the INS. But immigrants are now waiting 11 months for an interview, VOICE and SCOC officials said. Rogers agreed to meet briefly with two leaders of the campaign, but said he would not negotiate any of their demands. Rogers later told reporters that that if he met with the VOICE and SCOC representatives, he would have to meet with representatives of the other 42 organizations conducting citizenship outreach centers for the INS. Rogers said he never promised VOICE and SCOC a three-month turnaround for the citizenship interview waiting period and wouldn't have because of a record surge of applications. "I can't put additional resources into the outreach effort and take away from (other citizenship processing efforts)," he said. "By law I have to process every application the same." Rogers said he added a second outreach team recently because the waiting period for citizenship interviews at outreach sites had caught up to that of individuals who send their applications by mail. CAPTION(S): PHOTO Photo (1) Protesters voice their dissatisfaction with INS District Director Richard Rogers and citizenship processing delays in front of the Federal Building in Los Angeles. Terri Thuente/Daily News (2) Richard Rogers |
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