In Ayi v. Gonzales, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals found the immigration judge's finding that Mr. Ayi lacked credibility to be unreasonable, 460 F.3d 876 (7th Cir. 2006). The judge had excluded corraborating evidence such as medical evidence showing Mr. Ayi had suffered torture in his home country.

The Los Angeles Times reported yesterday on the thousands of would-be citizens who are caught in the U.S. government's backlog of naturalization applications.

The newspaper reports:

Nearly 320,000 people were waiting for their name checks to be completed as of Aug. 7, including more than 152,000 who had been waiting for more than six months, according to the U.S. Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services. More than 61,000 had been waiting for more than two years.

Nearly 320,000 immigrants who have passed naturalization exams and interviews have been in limbo for months, sometimes years, before the U.S. government has allowed them to take their oath of citizenship.