1.   A computer problem combined with new, more time-consuming procedures intended to do a better job of preventing criminals from becoming citizens produced what they said were temporary delays.

2.   A congressional task force on illegal immigration proposes to prohibit U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants from becoming citizens and calls for stricter border control enforcement.

3.   But advocates for the elderly say that if immigrants had known their benefits depended on their becoming citizens, they might have tried to learn English much sooner.

4.   No exception is made for immigrants whom Congress has cut off the dole as they await becoming citizens.