Live from n.p.r. News in Washington I'm Janine Herbst should issue a committee is set to take the reins of the impeachment inquiry into President Trump as the investigation enters its next phase This week N.P.R.'s Winsor Johnston reports the panel will hold its 1st public hearing into Trump's dealings with Ukraine on Wednesday the Judiciary Committee is expected to receive a final report from the intelligence panel on its findings after weeks of open and closed door testimony from key witnesses in the probe speaking on Fox News Sunday hey came Jeffries a Democrat on the Judiciary Committee says the next step will be whether to move forward with articles of impeachment Ultimately every single member of the House of Representatives is going to have to decide whether they want to put principle over party whether they want to put the Constitution ahead a corruption the inquiry continues to center on whether Trump used a military aide as leverage to press the Ukrainian government to open an investigation into a political opponent Winsor Johnston n.p.r. News Washington and Trump was given a deadline of this hour 6 pm Eastern today to alert the committee as to whether the White House plans to participate but there has been no word from the White House as of yet Trump will be in London for the NATO meetings on that day the u.s. Supreme Court is scheduled to take up its 1st major gun rights case in a decade N.P.R.'s Nina Totenberg reports the justices on Monday will hear arguments on now defunct gun regulations in New York City several gun owners and the New York affiliate of the n.r.a. Challenged regulations for having a handgun at home in New York City under the regulations as they existed when the case began a license to have a gun at home only allowed the gun owner to transport the weapon to 7 shooting ranges inside the city limits that meant these pistol owners could not transport their guns to a home elsewhere in the state for instance or to shooting ranges and competitions outside the city this year the city. Change those rules to be more permissive but the gun owners are pressing the Supreme Court to layout yet more permissive rules for gun ownership and transport Nina Totenberg n.p.r. News Washington police in New Orleans are asking the public for information about an early morning shooting that left 10 people injured near the city's French Quarter Eileen Fleming of member station w w n o reports police chief Sean Ferguson says one person was detained while officers investigate the shooting but no one's been arrested officers responded quickly to the gunfire that erupted around 330 Sunday morning the popular tourist area had been crowded with visitors attending the by classic football game played at the Superdome 10 people were taken to area hospitals one person was taken to a hospital in a private vehicle 2 of the victims were critically wounded a $5000.00 reward has been posted for information police have released very few details for n.p.r. News I'm Eileen Fleming in New Orleans and you're listening to n.p.r. News from Washington. In Minnesota state agencies that protect people with intellectual disabilities are starting a media campaign to fight sexual abuse this follows new efforts in states around the country as N.P.R.'s Joseph Shapiro reports the online and media campaign in Minnesota was designed with help from women and men with intellectual disabilities it tells people how to spot abuse prevent it and report it Colleen wick runs the Governor's Council on the bell mental disability we should not treat people with disabilities in any sort of lesser status abuse stops with other states this year including California New Mexico and Texas passed laws are made new funding available to fight sexual abuse Arizona passed some moral laws after a woman with an intellectual disability who was unable to speak gave birth male nurse at the nursing home where she lived was charged with sexual assault Joseph Shapiro n.p.r. News Iraq's parliament today formally accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Adel of dual Mahdi this after 2 months of deadly protests but questions do remain on the legality of this resignation one lawmaker says the country's constitution doesn't clearly spell out the next step this says anti-government protests continued today in the capital of Baghdad one protester was reportedly shot and killed demonstrators close roads including those leading to a major commodities port in southern Iraq I'm Janine Herbst And you're listening to n.p.r. News from Washington support for n.p.r. Comes from n.p.r. Stations other contributors include the William t. Grant foundation supporting research to improve the lives of young people more information is available at w.t. Grant Foundation dot org And listeners like you who donated this n.p.r. Station. From the Center for Investigative Reporting in p r x This is revealed. For the past 8 months data reporter. Has been reporting on an issue that affects thousands of people including her own family. After my husband or no then I started to. Garden into this routine Ok let's go down and. Go down to our drawing room open up our laptops. And work because we've been trying to immigrate to Canada expressed. Job after our daughter goes to sleep. People work. I gotta say I was really surprised the 1st time you told me with thinking about leaving the Us I've known you for years to visit used to work together here revealed now you're a reporter at Mother Jones you have a great career and it just seems like you've built a life in this country I have and so has my husband the note we are originated from India we've lived here in the u.s. For years our daughter was born here Vinod also has a great job here he's an executive at a tech company but our future is still feels really unstable and our immigration status is tied to our jobs and the know this on this. H one b. In basic terms what's an h one b. Well there are pretty high skilled people lots of computer programmers on them employers apply on your behalf and you need to have a minimum of a bachelor's degree these visas a really popular among Indian immigrants around said. Percent of people are Indian and these visas are temporary but they get renewed a lot is they a lot I mean how much is 2 thirds of h. One B.'s approved in the last fiscal year or what actually renewals vnode spent on h. One B.'s for years without any problems but when he was getting ready to renew his visa this a lawyer told us there's a chance it could get tonight. Asking. For that earlier than usual under the Trump administration that's been the surge in the number of h one b. Visas that are getting denied like in 2015 when Obama was in office only 4 percent of these visas were denied this year that figure quadrupled 16 percent of applicants are getting turned down and this really fascinates me because h. One B.'s are one of the most popular visas in the us and all kinds of white collar workers use them companies are moving offices to other countries because our immigration rules prevent them from we highly skilled and even if I might totally brilliant people we discriminate against. Against brilliance we won't anymore. That's from. Discussing what he calls method based immigration basically he wants elite immigrants with lots of skills but his administration is cracking down on the visa a lot of those people need to immigrate here so I want to know who's getting denied Why are they getting denied and are all of these denials even legitimate That's what I wanted to find out. On immigration for more than a year now we've investigated the trouble ministrations tolerance policy and family separation stories about how military contractors kids. The bend in office buildings after they were separated from their parents today show though we're going to take a different look at immigration instead of focusing on our southern border we're going to investigate visas and citizenship legal immigration process is that will show are no longer working the way they're supposed to you know how a lot of these immigrants feel like they've followed the rules and done everything right there's a guy I met who's a really good example of this we're calling him some you. Know. Going to some is not his real name he's afraid his immigration status might be affected if he speaks out publicly might produce that Theresa and I went to meet him at his apartment in suburban Dallas he lives there with his wife and his 5 year old son who by the way was very cute he obsessed with a quarter now Ok you. Leave. So I'm off to the United States in 2006 he came here for grad school he got a master's in environmental engineering and then he landed a job at this Fortune 500 health insurance company which is a household name United Health Care one of his jobs was to streamline the way the company processed claims our claims process if you had a medically she came into your state almost 3 to 4 months to get a tear and then we dropped down Died time to almost a month and a half of there were times. 70 was a week because we wanted you know people to get cured they need to get the treatment I put my soul in there and you received an h. One b. Visa my whole life was read to you I don't health care he was doing really well at his job and he also started falling in love with this country I never used to celebrate Christmas back home in India but I did go to church here for the 1st time just to see how this elaborate. This country is built on immigrants right. And I wanted to feel that. So when some years 1st. United Healthcare applied to renew it and in 2014 he was approved This is kind of how it went for some here would run out. Run out. And then he decided Ok I want to stay in the United States for good I really like it and then they filed for my. Health care sponsored him and the u.s. Government said he was qualified for one. Has actually been waiting for a green card for a couple of years now the u.s. Caps how many green cards the country. And there are so many Indian people immigrating here that for us there's a really long wait. So at this point it's like had a pretty typical experience Yeah he's been in the u.s. For 10 years at this point. They had a son and they bought their 1st house so he says he's. For the down payment it's a very beautiful big house in the suburbs of Dallas and Simeon was really in love with it. Each and every single item for that house the brick selection everything I . Do each and every. Of the designs and. So made in his family they were going to live here for the rest of their lives that was in 2017 Trump's 1st year in office. The breaking news President from signing an executive order it was Carson that long ago title by American higher American didn't trump today ordering federal agencies tightening the h one b. Visa program so 27 team. By American hire American which urged federal agencies to overhaul Yeah this is where the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services enters the story most people. There the agency. Process is green cards citizenship obligations and visas. This time. Releasing a series of memos basically directing its officials to approach each one of these. Officials are told to look at each application as if it's a brand new case even if the person has been renewed many times before and they're also told to really question an applicant. So this means that if you're an immigrant one of the questions these memos trying to get out is this your job really need you for some here what it looks like his job really needs him he's been at United Health Care for 7 years he keeps getting raises bonuses and then in 2018 he gets moved to a subsidiary company with an United Health Group doing the same kind of work and they find this h one b. Again and this time there was trouble. Some other tried not to panic he says his employer told him they would refile supplication Then one morning at about 830 there was a call there was a meeting about a project and I was giving some inputs on everything and everything ran fine I have my no problem this could do not either or one on one meeting with me. The director and then meeting that they would terminating him I was able to. Call car to anything in my life. United Health Group wouldn't talk to us about some use case they did say that when an employee's h one b. Visas denied their required by law to terminate them they could have a. Decision but they didn't I. Know you're terminating but you're giving me like a 2 weeks in order that was one thing and then they said you know. I've been working here for a. Are you sending me out at least with some severance package or anything no. My house. What does this mean for smears immigration status his status was tied to his job so without his h. One b. His family would be forced to move back to India I mean even right now my brain is freezed. It's. Tough really tough. What did us c.i.s. Tells me about why his application was denied Well I reviewed his denial the agency pointed to some music education and said his must as degree wasn't 100 percent related to his job so they decided he wasn't qualified a lot of people study one thing in school and want to do something totally different exactly he also had years of experience doing this job which the h. One b. Visas supposed to take into account and when you look at some use case he doesn't line up with the kind of person Trump says he's cracking down on this is Trump right after signing his by American hired American executive order right now widespread abuse in our immigration system is allowing American workers of all backgrounds to be replaced by workers brought in from other countries to fill the same job for sometimes less pain this was. It's true that they that a plenty of people who haven't followed the rules companies of abused the program and used it to bring in low paid foreign workers. Do need to be reformed but the media doesn't fit into that category he was doing highly skilled work at a major company. I was curious to know how many other people were getting denied to so I started calling immigration attorneys all over the country so I made a list of my examples Sandra Feist is an immigration attorney based in Minneapolis she says officials are questioning whether some of her clients are qualified to do their jobs. Even when the qualifications of pretty obvious I have 2 cases right now for mechanical engineers requesting additional evidence that the mechanical engineering degree earned in the United States is relevant to the mechanical engineering job apparently the connection between those 2 is just not clear then there are clients who are getting denied for being too qualified for example I came across this but ologist with a stack of degrees including a master's degree in veterinary pathology or doctor of Veterinary Medicine and a Ph d. In but ology a Fortune $500.00 pharmaceutical company wanted to hire him as an associate director of pathology but that up occasion was denied us the I said his job could be done by someone without a college degree I don't know anybody who learned about high school mean either the agencies also denied architects engineers all on the grounds that you don't need a bachelor's degree to do those jobs attorneys like Sandra find this so frustrating we don't know what the rules are anymore to the game a lot of Sandra's clients of Indian immigrants they've worked for years on temporary visas while they wait in that long green card line now instead of getting their residency Sandra says some of them might be forced to move back to India should remembers this one client when u.s. CIA's denied her h one b. Should been living in the u.s. For over a decade but she looked at me across the table and she said I just feel like garbage I feel like the government just thinks I'm garbage. Thrillist at. Sandra says that clients sued the federal government over her h one b. Denial and when she did this funny thing happened before a judge even looked at the case u.s. C.i.s. Just drove us to decision and approved the visa. So they just turn around and say they made the wrong decision here well there are lots of reasons people settle in court the. Really know what's going on here to track down as many. Of them all yourselves and talk to all the attorneys which is what I did. Over the last few months. Which several different legal experts tell me is the most comprehensive one they've heard off the 1st thing I found at the Trump administration a lot more over this and remember. On behalf of their employees companies are really. The federal government over this maybe more cases out there from what i Phone took office. About 10 times over 20 denial. Almost 90 times and in over a 3rd of those lawsuits did the same thing they did. And approved. Before a judge could rule in the case. Other. Do . Those cases and I found that. Overturning. At a record rate in the past less than 3 percent of its decisions in the last 2 years has been overturning 14 percent of its case that's more than 5 times as many. Well I tried to talk to us c.i.s. About wrongful denials agency spokespeople say they won't comment on pending litigation and they told me the adjudicate all obligations fairly but according to the legal experts I talked to this shift in the agency's h one b. Policies it might be unlawful. They say when u.s. CIA has drastically changes the rules around a Visa it's supposed to allow for public comments and go through this formal toolmaking procedure and in this case the agency didn't do any of that. These changes have thrown a lot of people's lives into chaos particularly people who have lived on each one bees in this country for so many years that's what happened to me so I decided Ok man I have to sell my house. His wife sold the house they don't have a choice they thought they were going back to India I think in the past 10 years since we were married and that was the 1st time my wife saw tears in my eyes. And his family moved into a smaller apartment about 5 minutes away he says they tried to make the move seem like this big adventure for their son didn't want to tell him that we were going to this being nor father our parents would like to let their kids are going through a hard time and then the confusing thing happen Samir scramble to find another job his new employer applied for an h one b. On his behalf and strangely it got approved week. Was anything different about this application there was some minor differences but really he's the same guy with the same qualifications with the same amount of experience for a similar job it just seems really inconsistent am I missing something no out inconsistent is a really good way of describing it I came across several cases where it's not clear why u.s.p.s. Is ruling one way or the other and for Samir it meant that all of this selling his house turned out to be for nothing. Not storm to decide maybe this realm there's a mountain oh yeah. Well. My producer Teresa and I went to Dallas he was dead some years dream house which was the white one. Clearly more than just a house for him do you come here often every once in a while I did I used to half my heart was I came to use my. Id times after he sold it he kept driving by just to look at it he used to visit once a day then once a week he tries not do any more. Reporting on this make you think about your family situation differently you know it just feels like the game keeps changing and it's kind of rigged against us my family is also dependent on each one days and we also thought we might have to move back to India. Has told us that my husband may know it's h. One b. Could be tonight but it actually got pretty recently that is a huge relief it is pretty it's also only good for 3 years so it doesn't change this constant limbo that we're in RINGBACK we're still thinking of moving to Canada or if we have to. Go if nothing we all can always go back to. When I talk about leaving the United States pretty much all the time he's tired of the uncertainty one of my friends is already left one of his closest friends is planning to leave too this is the media lies that we just give our youth to this country and so I just feel like it's. It's a big deal of some sort you know we work. I've invested so much of my life and I want to fight it out and stay. But I'm just not able to. My friend thank you so much for that story thank you. Is a reporter with Mother Jones story was produced. Many people are getting. There's another type of visa some immigrants aren't even getting a chance to apply for that's coming up on reveal. From the Center for Investigative Reporting in p.r. This is reveal. Our next story looks at a different kind of one this is much for immigrants as it is for police officers it's called Uvas undocumented immigrants are often afraid to report crimes to police by calling 911. Get involved and possibly deport. Congress created the U.V.'s the goal is to build trust between police and victims of violent crime police can say hey if you cooperate with us if you help us with armed. Will help you to be able to apply for the u.v. It gives you status and protects you from deportation to reveal immigration reporter Laura Morel found that many police departments are using the u.v. Set the way it was intended Laura takes a story from here. Not only I'll count that lives a pretty normal life in hunder as she was good at math went to college and majored in business administration along the way to see that happen again yes a bit out but I mean by that is not only says she wanted to go to college to help her parents after graduating she got a job as an accountant and she met someone bought a house and had a son but her family's quiet life ended in the spring of 2014 Memphis I don't know how many. Personae Yes I love you don't you will she says gang members started calling threatening her and hunger is gangs often force residents to pay a monthly fee called light into on their homes and businesses suddenly they demanded half of Natalie's paycheck if not they told her they'd kill her son and that's why she immigrated to escape these threats but our boy is that. Me and to protect her son. When they arrived in Miami Natalie and her partner had no visa no status then one night and Nov 24th teen police are searching the South after noon for 2 armed women who broke into a home and terrorized the family inside they've been threatened to kill a toddler and an infant during this robbery not only her partner their toddler son and new baby were sleeping in a small room they rented in Miami when suddenly Natalie woke up inside the room she saw 2 shadowy figures one of them had a gun the other had a knife but you're limited to the misses it was dark hard to see not only says she panicked when she saw the knife the 2 intruders started yelling demanding the family's money and valuables if you don't give us your money they told her we'll kill your kids then $1.00 of the robbers turns to the crib where Natalie's 3 month old daughter was sleeping. Them into learning the woman pointed a gun at the baby Natalie jumped out of bed she grabbed about $300.00 from a while it pretty much all the family savings the women also took Natalie and her partner's cell phones and then ran out the front door. After the robbery Natalie tells me she picked up her daughter from the crib and held her 2 children close from her roommate's phone she called the police have been through I don't. Know the answer but minutes later Natalie says 10 or 11 police cars showed up outside and they blocked off the house with crime scene tape not only could hear a helicopter circling overhead t.v. Crews started to show up crime scene investigators came out here just a short time ago they were taking pictures in the grass behind in this home and at this point the investigation continues detectives really want to find these women. In the months after the robbery not only focused on finding the women who terrorized her family she. Tells me she holds police any way she could she answered their questions and checked in every so often to see how the investigation was going in total not only says she met with officers from the city of Miami Police Department 3 or 4 times and Vesta gaiters came by the house and showed her and her partner dozens of mug shots of potential suspects Natalie thought she got a good look at the women's faces that night you know. But she couldn't make a positive i.d. Around the same time Natalie started feeling the effects of the robbery she couldn't sleep and she began noticing changes in her 18 month old son he was just starting to see his 1st words this see how was. This like water mama papa allowed to split. But the dollars. For the I would not love one another but she says after the break and he just stopped talking for about a year he barely said a word and whenever he saw strangers and dark clothes he burst into tears. A few months after the robbery Natalie found out about the you visa that's when she connected with Catholic legal services and immigration attorney my eba my own has helped lots of immigrants apply for their you visas unfortunately we've had a lot of problems with City of Miami police in agreeing to certify a lot is required from victims like Natalie to apply for the not so much for police though basically they have to sign a form certifying 2 things one that the applicant was a victim of a violent crime and 2 that they were helpful to investigators that's it almost a year after the crime Maya says they got a letter in the mail after careful review has been determined that the Miami Police Department will not be certifying misapplication the letters one page long and nearly identical to ones I've seen from other victims and lawyers in Miami as you may notice on the certification form it reasons follows and this part isn't bold and includes an agency's decision to provide a certification is entirely discretionary. So yeah basically they're telling us it's discretionary and we don't want to do it. Natalie was 1st victimized by gangs in 100 then by robbers in Miami and now after fully cooperating with investigators bias says it's like Natalie's being victimized all over again. The way to find out I don't want to they. Understand that I went to Miami police headquarters early one morning to pick up Natalie's case file share. In the environment where you get. To go with the reports thicker than I expect as I sit in the lobby flipping through the case file it's clear that not only helped the police as much as she could she even said her own detective work the report confirms that she called her stolen cell phone and a woman picked up after not only told detectives about all this they got the phone call logs which showed that after the robbery Natalie's phone had been used to call a man detectives found that man and he told them the call came from an ex-girlfriend and when police ran a background check on the ax they saw that she was wanted for trespassing so they arrested her but the woman denied any involvement in the robbery on the bottom of one of the pages in the file and officer wrote an f. I no further information and Natalie's case was closed. It's at these records back to Natalie into show her the new details I uncovered and see what she thinks we said at her dining room table I hand her the report and translate it for her innocent party and. I told her she has a good memory the report includes everything she's holding us on us and quotes on up on top don't own up the story it says she was sleeping with her family when 2 people entered the room and pointed a gun at the baby nothing in the police report explains why Miami p.d. Rejected Natalie's request Natalie's lawyer my. Says she was told it's because the police were never able to make an arrest in the case I tried to explain this to Natalie and Gus annoyed them in the foot a thing that a star you know you brought up on the left is telling him you soon see soon enough what. So my case wasn't strong enough even though they pointed a gun at my kids. If Natalie's case wasn't strong enough I wondered whose case is so I filed a public records request for information on every USA case submitted to Miami p.d. Over the last 3 calendar years data I got back was telling out of 235 cases the department only certified 27 of them meaning Miami police rejected in nearly 90 percent of the u.v. The requests that came before them. I took what I found Miami Police Chief George Colina He's been with the department for about 30 years and was sworn in as chief last year he tells me the u. Visa is an important crime fighting tool all to make way the idea is to protect victims of crime and have them available to us so we can utilize their testimony to put a bad person in jail I tell the Chief what I found that his department's only approved about 10 percent of you visa certifications What do you think about that it's not a problem I don't know if it's a problem it sounds like a low number Collina tells me he's going to look into whether his department is following proper procedures it's clear she wasn't aware of how many you visa cases his department turns down until I told him a sound slow for sure and so we're going to look at it a little closer and in terms of Natalie's case Collina says he only has preliminary details but thinks maybe her applique. Was rejected because the crime wasn't solved and no arrests were made I tell him that's not a requirement and he suggests he'll look at her case again how do you plan to make sure that the approval rate improves sir to make sure that you have a stream's line process for these requests coming in and for the consideration that . I'm going to ask them to. Fortunately I'm in a position here is the chief of what we use or I can find out because like I said we it's a it's on us we need to be mindful of the people that we're here to protect everyone and so I'm going to have the ability to do that. To see how Miami compares I called police departments in cities and counties with large immigrant populations across 6 different states many of them refused to comment we do not have but we wish to part of the day in your nationwide survey of department. I talked to more than 100 law enforcement agencies in cities with large immigrant populations and found that nearly one in 4 Find ways to block immigrants from applying for the u.v. Some reject victims immediately others create their own arbitrary rules that go beyond what the federal government requires things like only certifying a U.V.'s after a case has gone to trial or if the victim has serious injuries some agencies told me that processing these applications takes time. What I learned is that police departments treat immigrant crime victims differently across the country and whether or not victims can get you visa protections depends entirely on where a crime took place. But some police departments do follow the federal guidelines Tony Flores works for one of them I am a sergeant inspector with the San Francisco Police Department and it's the greatest job in the world Tony's been a police officer solving domestic violence and human trafficking cases for the past 3 decades he also travels around the country training police departments on how to use the u. Visa over the years Tony's noticed a certain type of officer he can spot them right when he walks into trainings and you see that one person that's sitting there with their arms crossed and you know they don't want to be here Tony gets their skepticism back when he 1st heard about the you visa he had the same questions like When officers ask him all the time whether certifying the u. Visa means giving someone an immigration status to go no you're not what you were saying here at the moment is that this victim was a victim of a crime the former police sign is just one document out of several victims need further you visa application so our role is is crucial but also our role is small in the big picture Tony says in San Francisco he's seen how the u. Visa has helped fellow officers get information and do better police work and he's seen that undocumented immigrants are more willing to come forward and report crimes but in trainings Tony makes sure to talk officers that the you visa is not just about trust it's also about getting criminals off the street wouldn't be sad to know that you had a perpetrator in your grasp in your sights that you have the victim that's who's willing to cooperate with you and then all saying you say no I can't help you and now the perpetrators out there doing this to other victims that's how I see it California were Tony works is one of just 11 states that have passed laws standardizing help police process you visa applications but Florida doesn't have a law like this. It's been 5 years since Natalie's family was robbed at gunpoint and they're trying to move on they bought a small house in Miami and had a baby boy but still Natalie says she has a hard time being alone in the battle but to know in the book. She gets scared and she's asked her partner to install a dead bolt on their front door and when she's home alone she takes an added precaution. Gussie I will see I'm going to use those solar Natalie grabs a chair from the dining room table pulls it across the floor and shows me how she watches it against the front door the chairs flimsy but she says at least it'll make a noise if someone tries to come in while she's sleeping. When Natalie 1st came to the us she had an image of police that she'd gotten from watching American movies she tells me she assumes that most crimes here got solved quickly and that police did right by victims but this whole experience the robbery and then not getting her you visa signed she says it's left a bad taste in her mouth 11 that been a 1000000 model and most i want they woke up what it is a while can buy says the truth is not only tells me police are the same in every country this lesson it's pretty much the exact opposite of what the u. Visa was meant to do. New applications for u. Visas dropped in 2018 for the 1st time in a decade besides the fact that many police departments are turning down applicants some advocates think the people are afraid to apply because of the immigration policies and rhetoric coming out of the trumpet ministration thanks to reveals Laura Morel for that story was produced by Ashley Kling. So we've seen how immigrants are being denied visas that let them live and work in this country legally and it turns out people who want to pledge their loyalty to the us I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States in the mirror of the United States of America they're having problems too why it's getting harder to become an American citizen next on reveal. Local support for review is provided by Southwest Colorado gives an annual online initiative that celebrates philanthropy statewide and inspires donors to give where they live Colorado gives day is Tuesday December 10th donations can be made online at s w c o gives dot org Southwest Colorado gives philanthropy is just a click away. From the Center for Investigative Reporting and p.r. . Reveal. The paramount. All time favorite. Was built in the early thirties it's. Even. This event here that happens every month it brings thousands of people dressed in their. Citizenship ceremonies like this. Usually years in the making. Visitors. Understand what. Is. Becoming more difficult for people to become new citizens under the Trump administration. Just before the. Beginning. There are women and sequins babies and dresses and tiny people holding flowers and bouquets and if you stand around long enough someone's going to ask you to take a photo. As I make my way through the lobby into the auditorium a man spots my microphone he's tall wearing an elegant suit and holding a tiny American flag as I get close. To his name is. He. And gives a big wife and 2 young kids as they head to. Kick off with u.s. Immigration officials on stage celebrating people from all over the world. Is an image. Officer with u.s. Citizenship and Immigration Services or u.s. C.i.s. He announces all 97 countries represented by people in this auditorium any doesn't just do in English he does it in campaigns. Spanish. Hindi. French. Isn't it up. And you can tell he really enjoys this he's hamming it up one of these here for the for. Citizenship has become increasingly complicated and drawn out for most immigrants there's a 5 year wait just to become eligible after that the process used to move quickly but since President Trump took office the wait for citizenship has grown longer and more challenging Eric Cohen runs the immigrant legal resource center he remembers a time when citizenship moved far faster in most cases about a 6 month wait to start to finish start to finish and now in some places it goes as high as 15 and even as high as 2 years now that wait average is 10 months but depending on where you live it can take way longer Eric has been working in immigration since the eighty's he calls himself a citizenship evangelist his organization leads one of the biggest grassroots movements to get people into the citizenship process it's about building our democracy and the way to have a strong democracy is to have as many people who can participate participate but participation is at risk because people applying for citizenship today might not get through the process in time for next year's election a professor at Colorado's Metropolitan State University estimates that a minimum of 150000 people might miss their chance to vote in 2020 not a trivial amount considered. How tight some elections can get. And there are other concerns researchers at Syracuse found that lawsuits over citizenship were up by 66 percent last year compared to 5 years earlier citizenship might also get a lot more expensive u.s. C.i.s. Has proposed raising the application fee to more than 1100 dollars and 83 percent hike and they want to make it tougher for low income applicants to get fee waivers . I wanted to talk to u.s. C.i.s. About all of this. In a written statement they said that citizenship applications skyrocketed in their Obama and that they've hired new staff and opened new offices to keep pace but under Obama wait times for far shorter. I have more questions but U.S.C.'s wouldn't grant me an interview so back at that citizenship ceremony I decided to see if u.s. C.i.s. Officials here would talk there are actually 2 ceremonies today in between them I walk up on stage to ask some questions around the world randy Rex to whom it's nice to meet you Monica Campbell I want to know about those wait times but no dice they say they're not allowed to talk and questions have to go through the press contact . Yet let Sharon feel. Sharon is going to pass it to d.c. And to see is going to be sent a statement. For sure if that is where we are. In this moment they look like they want to talk but they don't do it. Ok Thanks so much people like Brandy Rex a long time staffer at us c.i.s. Who goes out of his way to greet new citizens in their own language that's not who setting the tone for us c.i.s. These days let's be really clear we're already dating agency erst not a Benefits Agency Ken Cuccinelli ran u.s. C.i.s. . Until November when he got a promotion Trump named him the acting deputy director of Homeland Security which oversees u.s. C.i.s. And immigration enforcement like ice and Border Patrol Cuccinelli has become the administration's go to voice on immigration he supports keeping families in detention and ending birthright citizenship last year speaking to Breitbart he likened migrants at the border to invaders who should be turned back literally you don't have to keep touching release none of it is point him back across the river swim for it could you not only help to rebranding us c.i.s. Making it more about enforcement and vetting which seems like overkill to immigration advocates like Eric Cohen the lawyer from the immigrant legal resource center Eric points out that most citizenship applicants are green card holders who've been vetted before often twice you're someone who's going to have your fingerprints done it's going to go through a number of databases including the f.b.i. I d h s and all sorts of other databases to check to see what sorts of you know debility issues you might have so that you go through a quite a rigorous process Eric and other lawyers say they're seen people's cases reverted at extreme levels in one example he says an official check for marriage fraud by asking to see an applicant's house key they wanted to make sure it was identical to their spouses in one case they had a kid together now I mean who commits marriage fraud being vetted twice and have a kid together you don't make that stuff up u.s. C.i.s. Officials say they're overwhelmed with applications and it's true there's been a search but this isn't new applications for citizenship have jumped before usually around elections previous administrations typically added muscle to process up locations more quickly and bring wait times back to normal that's not happening today instead Cuccinelli moved staff away. From the problem specifically to the Us Mexico border where hundreds of officers were sent this year when we have a poll on our resources like we have with the southern border crisis. It does inhibit our ability to do other things. It is with great. Commute into the. Back of the citizenship ceremony on a large screen there's a recorded message from President Trump is. This country is now your country and what that means for lots of people here is security many in this auditorium are trading green cards for citizenship and there's a lot of reason to do that the Trump administration is making green card holders more vulnerable Attorney General William Barr made it easier to deport legal permanent residents who commit certain crimes its security one man I met here is grateful for. Alejandro has lived in the u.s. For 30 years he's an entrepreneur he ran a jewelry store here and businesses in Mexico he says his daughter convinced him to get citizenship because she worried about him traveling back and forth between the u.s. And Mexico on a green card we have. Immigration. For me. Citizenship means the freedom to travel in and out of the u.s. With less worry and less anxiety for his family and family is a big deal at this ceremony it's not just the people taking the oath today who will become new citizens their kids looking down from the balcony will get citizenship to automatically. As long as they're under 18 that's been the last since 2000 and now own view should be. You know you one country as the ceremony winds down everyone gets on their feet they raise their right hand and recites the oath of allegiance I have. An old Absolutely. That I absolutely. Renounce and that. It goes on for 2 solid minutes the audience swears to support and defend the Constitution to bear true faith and allegiance to bear arms and defend the us and to do so freely without any mental reservation or. It's taken years for many of the people here to get to this point and it's a process that is getting longer and harder for those applying today graduation is this is. A who. Thanks so much Candy for that story she's a reporter at the public radio show the world and today those new citizens are going to play a sound. All the. Today show was edited by Bret Myers was produced by Teresa cuts a real especially clique of Monica Campbell thanks to our partners at Mother Jones and the public radio show the world for story about h one b. Visas a lot of help putting together that national database we especially want to think Steven you know lair and who lead at Cornell Law School Jill family had wider university the staff at the u.c. Berkeley and San Francisco law libraries and also thanks to Sean Musgrave. The. Original Score and sound design. They help this week from stuff in Clare see. Our c.e.o. . Thompson is our editor and chief executive producers Kevin Sullivan our theme music is by camaraderie. Thank God the. Foundation. For foundation Jonathan Logan Family Foundation the Ford Foundation. Foundation the Democracy Fund and the ethics of Excellence in Journalism foundation . The Center for Investigative Reporting in p.r. . And remember there is always more to the story. You've been listening to reveal on k.s.u. T.v. 4 Corners Public Radio and Southern new tribal radio support is provided by 7 rivers steaks seafood and spirits enigma sheo offering steaks and seafood paired with creative cocktails fine wines and a wide variety of spirits you can find information online at Sky youth casino dot com This is k s u t Ignacio Q u t e. Durango Q u t Farmington Ky u.s.w. Floor of his step n.k.p. G.s. Pagosa Springs a new restaurant in Washington d.c. Celebrates the flavors and foods that immigrants have brought to this country food why it's like combining 20 arrests on scene just one place we speak with chill of the co-owners of immigrant food it's fast casual with a twist Plus the latest news on the next All Things Considered from n.p.r. News. Stay with us for all things considered coming up next hour at 6 we've got the New Yorker Radio Hour up next with local support provided by directory plus celebrating over 35 years as the only locally owned and operated search directory for the 4 corners community directory plus available in prints and online at directory plus dot com. Today.