ENLISTING IN AMERICA'S RANKS; 10,000 MORE TAKE OATH IN LAGGING YEAR.

Byline: Yvette Cabrera Daily News Staff Writer

It seemed like a sure sign of another record year of naturalizations: 10,000 more immigrants became U.S. citizens Thursday during two massive ceremonies.

But despite the overflow crowd that packed the downtown Convention Center, the Los Angeles district office of the Immigration and Naturalization Service actually is straggling far behind the record pace of naturalizations set last year and faces a backlog of applicants three times as long.

INS officials blame the reversal on a relatively new procedure put into place June 30 to winnow out suspected criminals.

The new screening process comes with stiffer guidelines that are delaying the citizenship process, INS officials said.

``It has been a learning curve that has affected productivity of offices around the district,'' said Rosemary Melville, INS deputy district director.

``We've had to train employees and get used to the new procedures, but we're hoping people get used to them so that next year we can increase productivity.''

The backlog and decrease in naturalizations have citizenship organizations fuming.

``The percentage of criminals applying for citizenship is so minute, but everyone is suffering from it,'' said Cecelia Barragan, co-chairwoman of Valley Organized In Community Efforts, a grass-roots organization that registers voters and coordinates citizenship drives.

``The naturalization numbers are down, but it's not because people have not applied or don't feel the urgency to apply.''

From Proposition 187 to more recent deadlines for a soon-to-expire immigration provision, the public has been driven like never before to apply for citizenship, said Barragan.

``There are people who have been waiting up to two years and it's really frustrating to these people,'' said Barragan.

``They come to our sites and we're told they'll be sworn in six to nine months, but it's not happening.''

In 1996, the Los Angeles office naturalized 246,176 people. So far this year, the number is little more than half - 137,500, including the 10,000 new citizens sworn in Thursday.

Only four more ceremonies are scheduled between November and the new year, said Jane Arellano, assistant district director for adjudication.

The naturalization backlog more than tripled this year with 370,000 people awaiting word on their paperwork, compared to 120,000 last year, said Arellano.

The Naturalization Quality Procedure program began last November after the INS came under a hail of criticism for naturalizing citizens with criminal records.

With the stiffer screening, the INS is actually rejecting a smaller proportion of applicants. This year, 9 percent were denied; last year the figure was 10 percent.

Arellano estimated that 2 percent of that group is denied for having a criminal background.

Previously, when an FBI fingerprint background check was submitted, if the INS did not receive a negative response in 60 days the applicant was approved for citizenship.

``Now we're required to have a response from the FBI no matter how long it takes to get that response,'' said Melville.

According to the INS, the average waiting period - from the time the citizenship application is submitted to the oath of allegiance ceremony - is about 15 months, said Arellano.

At the Convention Center on Thursday, some of the new citizens said their waits didn't seem too long.

Samuel Chavez of Glendale, who was sworn in eight months after turning in his citizenship application, praised the NQP program for weeding out criminals.

``It was a relatively short wait,'' said Chavez. ``I think that's good they are checking for (criminals), they should do that program.''

W.H. Dietrich, a painter from Lake La Quinta near Palm Desert, said it took the INS 59 years to process his application, but his was a special case.

Dietrich entered the United States 59 years ago as a student from Sweden when World War II broke out and was asked to serve in the U.S. military. When Dietrich refused to serve because he was still a Swedish citizen, he became ineligible for citizenship.

``I had to go before the INS commission to get permission to become a citizen,'' the 80-year-old Dietrich said after the ceremony. ``I have six children here, I've lived in this country all this time, I'm the happiest guy today.''

CAPTION(S):

PHOTO (1 -- 2) Army Sgt. Olga Post wipes away tears during, and poli ce recruit Gonzalo Lara shows off his citizenship papers after, naturalization Thursday.

Michael Owen Baker/Daily News