Delays Prevent Virginia Milanés from the American Dream
Viriginia Milanés missed the funerals of her close family members in order to have a better chance of getting her American citizenship. Though she lost two brothers-in-law, a nephew, and one of her ten sisters all in one year, she did not go back home to the Dominican Republic for their funerals.
She was afraid that if she left, she would miss her opportunity to become a United States citizen. “I didn’t want to go because I thought I would get my interview,” says Milanés, 48.
But now, over a year and half later, that still has not happened. Milanés is one of over a million citizenship applicants (most of whom are Latino) who have had to endure hardships as a result of delays in the U.S. Customs and Immigration Service’s (CIS) processing of naturalization requests.
Milanés first filed for citizenship in August 2006. She was told that the whole process would take under a year. But as of March 2007, CIS had not yet called her in for her citizenship interview.
At the beginning, things seemed to move along according to schedule. Three weeks after sending in her application she was called in for fingerprinting.
But then weeks and months passed and she heard nothing else.
During her wait she lost several family members back home. When Clotilde, one of Milanés’ seven living older sisters, passed away, Milanés decided not to return to her hometown of San Francisco de Macorís for the services.
The decision was hard for Milanés, who places great value on family. One of the reasons she seeks citizenship she said, is because it gives her a stronger bond with her family and with the country that she has come to call her own.
“I’d like to become a citizen—God willing – because I love this country. My son is a citizen. My daughter and grandchildren are here. I love my country.”
Milanés first came to the United States from the Dominican Republic in the 1980s. Her husband William and her son Ramón are both citizens. William drives a livery cab in New York and Ramón is a building superintendent in the Bronx.
Virginia and her husband live with Ramón and his wife and daughter in the apartment they own in the Bronx. Their daughter, Wendy, works for a hotel in Orlando and has four sons, two of which are already citizens.
There are many reasons to become a United States citizen, Milanés explains. “Here, a citizen has the right to many things. The right to seek whatever job he or she wants... The right to vote…”
If Milanés’ naturalization process would have proceeded on time, she would have had her first opportunity to exercise her right to vote last February.
“I would have liked to have voted in the primaries,” she says.
Now she is not sure she will be able to vote in November’s general election.
“Hopefully,” she says. “God willing.”
When Milanés heard no further response from after September 2006, she contacted Rep. José Serrano’s office, where caseworkers called CIS on her behalf in August, 2007, November, 2007 and February, 2008. They were informed on each occasion that the case remains pending clearance of Ms. Milanés’ name and date of birth
“Now they are doing my name check, and they keep telling me to wait and to wait. A person gets tired of so much waiting,” Milanés says. |
