Source: The San Francisco Chronicle

On July 17, 2002 The San Francisco Chronicle reported that "when immigration and civil rights attorney Saad Ahmad goes to pray at his Santa Clara [California] mosque these days, he is approached by fellow worshipers seeking advice about becoming U.S. citizens... Since Sept. 11, he has counseled non-naturalized residents to get citizenship... And across the nation record numbers of immigrants have applied, not only out of fear of a backlash but because they felt a rise in patriotism after the terrorist attacks... New applications rose almost 64 percent... compared with... the same period in 2000-01... Despite this surge in applications, INS statistics show that fewer people have been naturalized."