There is a more political way in which there is a “tax” on some South Asian names, and that is when it comes to gaining citizenship. We all know that since 9\/11 the gap between the political rights of citizens and non-citizens has grown. Now there is another gap that has arisen amongst applicants for citizenship, between those with relatively common and uncommon names:<\/p>\n\n
\nThe first step involves a computerized search of the F.B.I.’s Universal Index of 94.6 million records for all mentions of a name, a close date of birth and a Social Security number. Different permutations of the name are tried, like the first and middle name only. Nearly a third of naturalization cases come back as having a potential match….
“Common names (such as Mohammed, Singh, or Smith) may result in hundreds of potential matches<\/font>,” government lawyers wrote. “The sheer volume of the requests has also resulted in delays…” [Link<\/a>]<\/blockquote>\n\n<<\/p>\n\n
p>This cases sit in limbo even as the INS has promised to eradicate its backlog of applications, since they have simply defined these cases as outside its purview. In fact it now<\/p>\n\n
… takes responsibility for fewer than 140,000 of the 1.1 million immigrant applications<\/font> that it identifies as pending for more than six months<\/font>. [Link<\/a>]<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<<\/p>\n\n
p>Even immigrants who have already passed security checks of various sorts can be consigned to purgatory in this way:<\/p>\n\n
Also still waiting are a number of Iraqi Kurds who arrived in the United States a decade ago as political refugees, settled in Nashville and were interviewed by the F.B.I. before the Iraq war as experts loyal to the United States. \nOne refugee, Hadi Gardi, 49, says he teaches Arabic and Kurdish to American soldiers at an Army base in Georgia. He passed background checks for that job, as he did for earlier ones dating to his work as a translator for Americans in Iraq. His wife gained citizenship last October. But though he applied when she did, he is still waiting, told only that the F.B.I. is checking his name. [Link<\/a>]<\/blockquote>\n\n
<<\/p>\n\n
p>As RT Sehgal (not Segal or Siegel) said in his McSweeney’s article “The Terror Alert Levels: A brown person’s guide” :<\/p>\n\n
… is your name Tariq, Abdul, Omar, or does it contain the prefix Al-? Those are fine names, but you know what? So are Steve and Paul. Think about it. [Link<\/a>]<\/blockquote>\n\n<<\/p>\n\n
p><\/p>\n\n
<<\/p>\n\n
p>Honestly, I wonder how many Smiths see their application substantially delayed by this process. Given that Smiths are 1% of the overall population<\/a>, you’d think that there would a loud crowd of angry Smiths who had been waiting for over a decade to become citizens.<\/p>\n\n
<<\/p>\n\n
p>I was thinking about this the other day, when I heard about the big gathering of the Joneses in Cardiff:<\/p>\n\n
More than 1,200 people named Jones broke the world record for the biggest gathering of people with the same last name, Guinness World Records officials said in Cardiff, Wales. [Link<\/a>]<\/blockquote>\n\nI hope they’re not planning to apply for citizenship … <\/p>\n\n
And for all of us with funny names who are citizens, please vote tomorrow. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
There is a more political way in which there is a “tax” on some South Asian names, and that is when it comes to gaining citizenship. We all know that since 9\/11 the gap between the political rights of citizens … Continue reading