Citizenship on the Rise

ARIZONA: Immigration officials in Phoenix are churning out record numbers of new U.S. citizens, with as many as 2,000 to be sworn in this month alone. The push is part of a national effort to chip away at a mountain of backlogged applications, including many thousands from immigrants who had hoped to vote in November. Despite the increase in naturalizations, however, critics say the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is not working fast enough, so many immigrants won't become citizens in time to vote. This month, the Phoenix CIS office plans to grant citizenship to 2,000 legal immigrants, more than twice the usual 800 for May, officials said.