A group of would-be citizens gathered outside the USCIS (Government Immigration) office in Chicago today to protest the huge backlogs in citizenship approval that are keeping them from participating in civic life. They went to drop off a letter of discontent to the Chicago District Director of USCIS. After a long wait, District spokesperson Marilou Cabrera addressed the crowd, claiming that there was no backlog in the Chicago office. She was confronted by two elderly immigrants who shared their stories of waiting excessively on their citizenship. One of them, a lady living in the US for 50 years, had applied last year in July but is still waiting for her citizenship. She would like to become a citizen in time to vote in the 2008 elections and was helped through the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights' New Americans Initiative.

Extra! Hear more about the protest on NPR.