Sorry 'bout that Ted -- Kennedy on immigrants who applied to become citizens: "Half a million people may be left out in the cold, unable to vote."

I can't get too concerned about a federal agency not adding staff, resources, etc., just to meet a surge of citizenship applications because immigrants want -- and even claim due process entitles them -- to vote in an upcoming presidential race, and I would feel this way regardless of my party affiliation.

Wake up America.

From The New York Times:

Lawmakers from both parties and Latino immigrant groups have criticized [the federal Citizenship and Immigration Services agency] for underestimating a surge of citizenship applications in the last year, which was driven not only by anticipation of fee increases but also by rising interest in the presidential race. The delays threatened to leave more than one million immigrants who applied last summer to become citizens without a chance to vote in November.

Lawmakers noted that even if the agency met its projection, hundreds of thousands of immigrants who had applied since June would not be naturalized in time to vote in November.

“Certainly we welcome any progress that U.S.C.I.S. makes in clearing up the backlog,” said Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, who is chairman of the Senate Judiciary subcommittee on immigration. “But even their best projection leaves half a million people out in the cold, unable to vote.”