LATER THAN PLANNED, THOUSANDS TAKE OATH, BECOME AMERICANS

The Miami Herald - Wednesday, February 26, 2003
Author: JENNIFER MALONEY, jmaloney@herald.com

Two months later than he had planned, Canadian-born Norman Sandberg pledged allegiance to his adopted country Tuesday as 8,200 foreign nationals were sworn in as U.S. citizens in three back-to-back ceremonies at the Miami Beach Convention Center.

For the Immigration and Naturalization Service, this massive event was an effort to catch up on the backlog of prospective citizens whose naturalization was delayed by more than two months so the federal government, spurred by fears of terrorism, could conduct more thorough background checks.

For Sandberg, one of 4,000 citizenship candidates first scheduled to be sworn in on Dec. 17, it was a belated fulfillment of his parents' dream.

Sandberg had arranged for four relatives from Israel to fly to Miami to witness the event in December. But a week before the ceremony, Sandberg, 51, received a terse INS notice: The oath ceremony had been ``descheduled'' because of ``unforeseen circumstances.''

The circumstances: a change in policy now required FBI clearance for all would-be citizens. Previously, the INS had assumed candidates passed muster if it did not hear from the FBI within a given period.

The numbers of candidates not yet approved by the FBI in December were so high in Miami and New York that naturalization ceremonies were canceled.

In other cities, the ceremonies proceeded, but as many as 20 percent of the people scheduled to be sworn in were taken off the schedule.

Though the date had been pushed back for many of the participants in Tuesday's Miami Beach ceremonies, the day was just as sweet, new citizens said.

They came from more than 100 countries. Many wore red, white and blue. Sitting in hushed rows in a cavernous hall, they held small American flags in their laps and waited for the moment.

AT LAST, THE OATH

Then they stood and pledged: ``I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state or sovereignty, of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen.''

It had been worth the wait.

``It was frustrating, especially not knowing the reason for it,'' said Alexi Shopsa, a native of St. Petersburg, Russia, who was never told by the INS why his naturalization was delayed. After hearing that tighter security was the cause, he said, ``It's understandable, I guess.''

Turning to accept his citizenship certificate from an INS official, he said, ``Thank you, ma'am. God bless America!''

Barbara González, an INS spokeswoman in Miami, said she did not know how many South Floridian citizenship candidates originally scheduled for December took part in Tuesday's ceremonies.

Michael Bander , a longtime immigration attorney, estimated the figure at 85 percent.

The new security requirement slowed the pace at which a candidate can be naturalized and increased delays in an already backlogged system, said Chris Bentley, an INS spokesman in Washington.

``To the best of my knowledge, it's taking a matter of weeks for the security clearance to catch up with the candidate,'' he said.

Most candidates delayed across the country by the new policy have been cleared and scheduled for the next naturalization ceremony, Bentley said.

But some prospective citizens whose naturalization ceremonies were delayed undoubtedly have been denied citizenship as a result of the more stringent background check, he said.

On a typical swearing-in day in Miami, the INS naturalizes up to 6,000 people in two back-to-back ceremonies, said Elaine Watson, an INS spokeswoman. Tuesday's ceremonies were expanded to handle people whose December swearing-in had been canceled.

Sandberg's relatives came in December, when his naturalization was originally scheduled, and his cheering section on Tuesday was limited to two close friends from Miami. But the Miami Lakes executive said he was just as elated.

MEANINGFUL MOMENT

``It was still as festive because it meant a lot to me,'' said Sandberg, who has lived in United States for 17 years.

Sandberg's parents - who arrived at Ellis Island as refugees from Poland in 1945, then joined a relative in Montreal - had always wanted to become citizens of the first country to offer them a safe haven.

Sandberg was fulfilling their dream.

And for his brothers scattered across the United States and his cousins in Israel, he brought along a camera.

He plans to e-mail them photos of the ceremony. Caption: photo: Annie Sanabria, 6, gets a kiss from her father, Claudio Sanabria of Costa Rica, who has just taken the U.S. citizenship oath (a)
PATRICK FARRELL/HERALD STAFF HAPPY DAY: Annie Sanabria, 6, gets a kiss from her father, Claudio Sanabria of Costa Rica, who has just taken the U.S. citizenship oath.