CITIZENSHIP OFFICIAL PROUD OF WORK

The Miami Herald - Saturday, December 20, 2003
Author: ALFONSO CHARDY, achardy@herald.com

Elaine Watson marks the end of the line for many immigrants.

But that could be a good thing.

Watson is South Florida's citizen-maker - the person who decides if immigrants are worthy of becoming U.S. citizens, arguably the most coveted nationality in the world.

Watson, 63, the granddaughter of immigrants, is one of the longest-serving chiefs of a naturalization office in a major U.S. city, presiding for 17 years over the Miami unit, which is the third busiest in the country after Los Angeles and New York.

NATURALIZATIONS

She estimates that she has naturalized about one million new citizens during her tenure and overseen hundreds of citizenship ceremonies.

On Tuesday, Watson, who has worked for the immigration service for nearly 29 years, will help preside over two mass naturalization ceremonies at the Miami Beach Convention Center where at least 4,500 foreign nationals will become citizens.

From her perch inside a Brickell financial district office, Watson has had an insider's perspective on an issue that generates passionate arguments from those who believe immigrants contribute to the nation's strength and from others who believe they are a drain on its resources.

WITNESS

For her part, the reserved Watson says only that immigration is ``what makes our country great. We all come from somewhere else.''

Watson has been an intimate witness to the vast movements of immigrants and new policies that have radically reshaped South Florida and the nation: the Mariel boatlift in 1980, the Haitian and Cuban rafter exodus in the mid-1990s and the dramatic shifts in laws and practices in the 1990s and following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

These shifts have periodically triggered a sudden onslaught of people wanting to become citizens.

TUMULTUOUS TIME

One of the most dramatic surges occurred in 1996 when the Clinton administration pushed citizenship offices to naturalize as many immigrants as possible. The rush coincided with new federal laws that made it mandatory to detain and deport immigrants convicted of aggravated felonies.

``In 1996 we naturalized 140,000 people in one year,'' Watson said, who said 40,000 to 50,000 annual naturalizations is more typical. ``Every Sunday we had two back-to-back ceremonies at the Knight Center for six or seven months. Our staff worked seven days a week. We had shifts 24 hours a day.''

The citizenship drive eventually came under fire when it was discovered that the pressure to expedite naturalizations led to inadequate background checks that allowed many convicted criminals to become citizens.

A Justice Department report in 2000 criticized naturalization offices in several cities, including Miami, for lax background checks.

While Miami had allowed a number of criminals to become citizens, the same Justice Department report noted that Watson opposed hiring poorly trained examiners and put in place a system to try to verify their work.

``I didn't trust them because they didn't have the experience or the training,'' Watson said. ``They were hired off the street,'' she told investigators.

Watson came to her job by accident. She applied for a federal government job after being encouraged by her husband who believed the government provided a good retirement program.

GETTING THE JOB

The first agency that responded to Watson's application was the former Immigration and Naturalization Service.

Watson is the granddaughter of immigrants - Russians on her father's side, Scottish and German on her mother's side - who came to the United States at the turn of the 20th century.

A transplant from Cincinnati, Ohio, Watson grew up in South Florida and received a business degree from Barry University.

As director of the naturalization unit, Watson, who earns $98,854 a year, manages a staff of 42 examiners. Usually, she doesn't personally administer the oath of citizenships, but sometimes she can't resist.

SWEARING-IN

Recently, Watson swore in two foreign-born soldiers on leave from their units abroad.

Army Sgt. Alejandra Montiel, 24, of Nicaragua, based in Germany, and Navy 3rd Class Petty Officer Jonathan Ernesto Berrón, 21, of Mexico, based in Japan, recited the oath of citizenship - repeating sentences read slowly by Watson.

STRONG REACTION

As the region's citizenship gatekeeper, Watson elicits strong reaction from immigration attorneys. ``She's interested in efficiency and fair play,'' said immigration attorney Michael Bander .

But another attorney, while noting improvements during Watson's long tenure, said at times she has allowed examiners to make arbitrary decisions.

``I had one case in which a client was denied citizenship just because he had a bad driving record,'' said the attorney, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Watson said she did not believe something like that would happen.

``She's in a tough job,'' said Tammy Fox-Isicoff, another immigration attorney who has cases pending in Watson's office.

NO-NONSENSE

Inside her office, Watson is often described as a no-nonsense demanding boss.

``Sometimes she's there at the door looking at her watch and if an employee is late even by a few minutes she's giving them trouble,'' said a veteran immigration employee who has worked with Watson.

But Watson earns high marks from her own bosses.

``We have independent auditors who examine the work done in the naturalization process and we've consistently seen that the quality control in Miami is at the highest level,'' said Jack Bulger, district director at the Miami office of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Watson, who acknowledged that she can be stern with employees she considers not performing up to par, said citizenship decisions are made according to the law and information available about the person.

`HERE TO HELP'

``Look, we are here to help people, not get people,'' she said. ``We do our very best.''

Citing an example, Watson said her examiners visit nursing homes, hospitals or homes of immigrants too ill to come to her office for their citizenship interview.

Of all the people Watson has made citizens, one stands out: a Polish immigrant who applied for citizenship in the late 1970s. When Watson, who was an examiner, told the elderly man that he had been approved for citizenship, he started crying.

He then told Watson that he was a Holocaust survivor and rolled up his sleeve to show her the numbers Nazi concentration camp guards had tattooed on his right forearm.

``I was crying there with him,'' Watson said. Caption: color photo: Elaine Watson (a) CANDACE BARBOT/HERALD STAFF VETERAN: Elaine Watson has presided for 17 years over the naturalization office in Miami.