Political Organizing to Protest USCIS Delays

[Jack and Barbara 0]

I also wanted to mention that I got a reply from the site's administrator. Apparently, Visajourney.com started as a few individuals who did take political action in the form of well-organized protests outside a USCIS office and raising media awareness. And they tell me they are willing to help coordinate this kind of thing again. So please let me know if you guys are willing to do a little work on this. I want to get some advice from these DC people about what would be most effective -- nobody has time, I'm sure, to do a lot of work on this, but it seems like a good time politically to gain some leverage.

Protests get press but even war ones have not had the effect the organizers have desired. Doesn't seem so much about less support for the cause, but less interest in protesting in general and its effectiveness. Also lying in the streets of DC like the most recent ones only pisses off commuters.

Any sort of demonstration that negatively effects anyone (USCIS employees, citizens) other than those who have the power to make a change in the USCIS will only backfire as people who were sympathetic to our situation or at least indifferent would now feel cynical towards it.

Would contacting local congressmen at a more local (state) level be a good start? If enough people petiton for something on a small level and gets state media coverage, that might turn into national coverage. I first joined VJ a few months ago after becoming aware of it in the Washington Post.

Finding Love Abroad, Then Support Online for Visa Quest

[rebeccajo 14]

I see nothing wrong with an organized peaceful public stand. As you say, it certainly has been done in the past on VJ.

As for this being an opportune political time, I guess I would disagree with that. Even the issue of illegal immigration has been swept aside for the presidential elections. And the front and center that illegal immigration has received in the past few years really isn't 'good press' for any immigrant. There are more people in this nation who are anti-immigrant than you realize. And their feelings aren't limited to the 'illegal' variety of alien.

I'm all for taking a stand and using the methods available to us. But I ask you to look back to the time before you met your loved one. Just how much (at that time) did you know about United States Citizenship and Immigration Services? Just how much did you care?

Most people are more worried about how to pay their mortgage and buy gasoline. Immigration just doesn't affect most Americans. It's not 'front and center' for them.

Edited April 5, 2008 by rebeccajo

[rebeccajo 14]

One of my biggest concerns about USCIS is the lack of transparency in the process. Immigration for our loved ones is a privilege that we may apply for. That doesn't give the USCIS the right to keep us entirely in the dark about the process. For those applications processed within the regular time frame, I don't see as much of an issue, but what about the thousands of applications sitting on someone's desk waiting for years for name checks to be complete? When we ask for information, all we are told is that we have to wait for more processing. There is no accountability. There are similar situations with many foreign consulates that just seem to sit on the applications for months on end and will not give out any information about why there is a delay. I think given that the USCIS and the consulates are funded by our tax dollars and the fees we pay that we have the right to more transparency and to have inquiries on our cases responded to.

I agree. That's an issue. But I think timeliness is even more pressing.

Here is the federal regulation (rather than law; I misspoke! a la Hillary) cited by my source on the American Immigration Lawyers Association. I don't want to post his name because he'll be deluged by phone calls and he'll hate me! He's fairly high up in the organization. I'm a journalist and although I made it clear I was talking to him for personal reasons, he was available to me because I called through the press office. I suppose it's a matter of interpretation, whether the USCIS then has the right to make the person go through yet another application process and three-month wait. But according to the Code, a K-1 should give the person the right to work. I will do a bit more research on this when I get a chance but perhaps someone with access to a law school professor who specializes in this area could also check. Regular imm lawyers in the field seem to accept that we need to apply for the work permit but the law seems questionable.

My notes: In Houston they recognize the uscis reg you have employment authorization incident to status, passport little white I94 card arrival departure record card and that will have been stamped by a customs inspector with the visa classification K-1. that and the passport are sufficient to show that he’s eligible to work.

Old guys at JFK are doing a favor. (by stamping with EAD stamp)

That’s what the regulation says in the Code of Federal Regulation 274a.12(a)(6) alien admitted under fiancé under K1.

Coyote -

Here's that particular section of the code:

"(6) An alien admitted to the United States as a nonimmigrant fiancé or fiancée pursuant to section 101(a)(15)(K)(i) of the Act, or an alien admitted as a child of such alien, for the period of admission in that status, as evidenced by an employment authorization document issued by the Service."

As you state, 'regular' (whatever that means) immigration lawyers take the stance about needing an additional document from this section of the code.

I would also like to add that personally I believe transparency to be a larger issue than timeliness. I do understand your position because you are presently at the stage of the journey where you are separated from your loved one. My husband however spent 17 months by my side in the US held up in namecheck with nada a clue as to what could possibly be the holdup. When a senior US Senator and a former US Attorney inquire upon your behalf and are told information cannot be dispensed due to 'national security' matters, you start to become a little buggy as to what's wrong with your good name.

Thanks for the complete wording. Perhaps this is what the guy meant: The reality of it is that the lawyers I've spoken to here recommend getting married ASAP and filing for the work authorization at the same time as one files for the green card etc. The processing for all of these takes about the same amt of time, which is estimated at 4 or 5 months. At most, you will get an extra month of work under the K-1 and pay an extra fee, if this application isn't folded into the larger package. So effectively, there is no real ability to work under the K-1 visa.

The regulation doesn't specify what the employment authorization document is -- which is why I guess the EAD stamp seems to be working for some people. If it is...

That's my reading of it. As for "regular" lawyers, I meant the less high-powered immigration attorney I talked to here in Tucson instead of this rather high-powered guy who practiced in DC and now is a lobbyist for this organization: presumably more political and more in the loop.

I also just got off the phone with someone else in DC who had a lot of interesting things to say. More later.

I do want to say that it's inevitable that people will disagree about what's more egregious in the USCIS but we shouldn't get bogged down with that. Virtually all of the complaints I've read on this site seem well-founded. There seems to be no aspect of its mission that this agency hasn't mishandled, and I mean systematically. It's impressive, in a sick sort of way!

Well, lawyers do disagree on things you know. After all that is how they make their living - 'arguing' over the meanings of the written word!

And 'high powered' is as 'high powered' does. You might be surprised at the backgrounds of some immigration lawyers. Many have worked for the State Department or served as a US Attorney.

As for the EAD stamp, the reason it works is because it is a 'document issued by the Service', albeit at an airport and by a CBP officer. Its life span though is only for the duration of the I94. As you have learned, there is usually a gap between the time the expiry of this document and the EAD issued to adjustment applicants.

It was once explained on these forums like so - for all practical purposes a K1 entrant should plan for a period of unemployment.

It's my personal experience (from observing my husband after his move here) that this isn't always a bad thing. There's so much more adjusting for the immigrant than one can imagine. A little break from the working world can aid the transition while the immigrant 'gets their bearings' on life in a new land.

Edited April 5, 2008 by rebeccajo

[coyote 3]

Hi, Rebecca, Jack, Barbara, et al:

I figured that I would talk to some folks in D.C. about strategy before proposing anything specific. There's a guy I've run across who worked on the Hill and has worked on immigration issues for 30 years. I spoke to him today and I was very impressed. He's got his own agenda, which is overall immigration reform, and he was going into a meeting, but I will talk to him again next week.

My initial thoughts are, like yours, on a fairly small scale. Media is more important than anything else. I wonder if there is some sort of demonstration, whether it should be in California, at the Laguna Niguel Field Office, which I keep hearing is so much slower than the Vermont Field Office. This also seems to be a good one because there are several pro-immigrant organizations in L.A.

On the other hand, perhaps Washington or New York. Either of those would be out of my travel range, but I could help with some press stuff.

But a few people demonstrating won't do much unless there is press outreach. A friend sent me the piece in the Washington Post, too, and that's how I found out about Visa Journey. The New York Sun has done some good pieces and oddly enough USA Today. But we have to think of a new angle. I'll talk to this guy and see what he says. Maybe an email deluge to some key players would be helpful, but I don't know who those would be at this point. I will ask. The administration obviously doesn't care but I know Chuck Schumer has been good on this issue and Congress may have some influence.

It would be nice to think of something clever to get press coverage. And inexpensive to pull off.

I do think it would be good to make a list of major complaints, a simple fact sheet. I'm sure one of these organizations has one, but I was thinking of one that represents the concerns of this group.

I do think it's a good time because 1) it's an election year, and 2) immigration reform will be coming up in the next session of Congress. I personally (as a journalist) think it's a good story because it IS the underreported story of immigration. And, yes, I would have been interested in it even if I weren't personally involved because injustice is always a compelling story. Any issue runs into the same problems with apathy, Britney Spears coverage dominating the airwaves, etc. That's just the way things are now.

As far as giving the significant other time to acclimate to the weirdness of the U.S., nice if you can afford it! I'm a freelance writer who went back to graduate school and I'm working on a novel. I didn't plan to fall in love! In fact, I was planning to keep myself clear of relationships until I settled into a teaching job at a university. My boyfriend is a sailboat captain, a tour guide, and a very good plumber -- and plumbers, like it or not, are much more in demand than ####-disturbing journalists in our country these days. This whole process has been far more expensive than I anticipated and I need him to work! Besides I think it will be better for his head if he has his own money and his own life.

But I'm resigned to losing that one....I can't fathom how some old guys at Customs in JFK are stamping visas and nobody else is. I'm going to investigate that, but I'm dubious. The guy at AILA was quite good, I thought, but perhaps he was making a legal argument rather than giving practical advice. He said some clever things about preparing yourself to understand immigration by reading Kafka and Lewis Carroll.

Gotta get back to my real work, but thanks for the feedback. Will get back on some of this next week, but keep me posted with any ideas. I would like to get the administrator guy in the loop here -- does anyone know who the people are who did the demo and press outreach the first time?

Susan

[sj5 4]

[Gaby&Talbert 1]

A very good issue with the Immigration law that MUST change is the widow penalty. This is something that I don't think anyone would oppose. There are plenty of sad stories behind this and I think anyone that would champion this in Congress or the Senate would be considered a hero.

Edited April 5, 2008 by Gaby&Talbert

[Jack and Barbara 0]

Hi Gaby,

I'm not familar with this (plead ignorance), what is the widow's penalty? I'm sure I could google it but it would be beneficial to post as well.

Thanks.

[coyote 3]

From LA Times Mar. 25 (too easy on Gonzalez but good overview of lawsuits against USCIS)

Citizenship delayed

template_bas

template_bas

Legal immigrants shouldn't have to wait for more than a year to have their applications processed.

March 25, 2008

When Emilio Gonzalez steps down next month as director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, he will leave an agency as flawed as he found it. Citizenship application processing is mired in backlogs, disenfranchising legal residents who try to follow the rules and offering a new incentive for others to ignore them.

The agency's inefficiencies, of course, predated Gonzalez's arrival in December 2005. Only days before his Senate confirmation, a federal judge called the agency's structure "byzantine" and ordered immigration officials to issue green cards to thousands of legal permanent residents it had left in citizenship limbo, in some cases for years. Nevertheless, if he couldn't fix past transgressions, Gonzalez could have prevented new ones. The agency was warned that it would be deluged with applications as legal residents sought to avoid the 66% fee increase that went into effect in July, and it was. More than 1.4 million applications had been received by the end of last year, twice as many as in 2006.

Recently, Gonzalez announced some good news: The agency will complete 930,000 applications by Sept. 30, and the time frame for processing will drop to 14 months, down from 16 to 18 months. This certainly is an improvement, if nowhere near the six to seven months that was once standard.

So this is not the moment to blame Gonzalez, but rather to lament the pileup of applications that remains and to hope his successor will be able to quicken the pace. Streamlining the citizenship application process is the single largest issue affecting legal immigrants in the U.S. -- but the current state of affairs encourages illegal immigration too, teaching that queuing up for U.S. citizenship is arduous and possibly futile.

Furthermore, these delays have consequences. Beyond being unable to vote, legal residents cannot obtain certain jobs and benefits, can travel abroad only with great difficulty and cannot begin the family reunification process. Anger is building. In August, the Service Employees International Union sued the government over the increase in application fees, and in December, the American Civil Liberties Union filed suit over lengthy waits for FBI background checks. Earlier this month, the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund sued the U.S. on behalf of Latinos, charging that the government failed to fulfill a core responsibility and grant citizenship to legal applicants.

The broader issue of how to reform our broken immigration system is complicated, and we may debate the fate of millions of illegal immigrants living in the U.S. for months and years to come. But there are aspects of the system that can be fixed right away, and the immigration service's backlog is one of them.

[SusieK 3]

They screwed up plain and simple - they should be held accountable as we would in our jobs. Their regulatory complaince is not in place and that is a major no no - when a governmental agency plans for changes, make sure you think it out as this country is based on immigration and not to destroy family values.

Count me in!

Edited April 6, 2008 by SusieK

[Kris and Susiek 0]

They screwed up plain and simple - they should be held accountable as we would in our jobs.

Count me in!

And me If I had screwed up as bad as that in my job not only would i be out of a job I would be sued to the point of bankruptcy

Edited April 6, 2008 by Kris and Susiek

[SusieK 3]

They screwed up plain and simple - they should be held accountable as we would in our jobs.

Count me in!

And me If I had screwed as bad as that in my job not only would i be out of a job I would be sued to the point of bankruptcy

And you basically work for a governmental agency Kris - go figure - they need to be held accountable and I am quite surprised that class action suits against them have not been flying in the courts - COMPLIANCE HAS NOT BEEN HIGH ON THEIR LIST HERE.

Edited April 6, 2008 by SusieK

[zqt3344 21]

Nice idea, great idealisms and all that stuff but USCIS immigration reform starts at the top and it is an agency that is so large and ingrained into the self preservation of itself that it is going to be hard to go and protest against it and expect to get any response. The political climate and the will of the American voters is not on your side now.

Good luck trying to protest and change it by protest, but you are at a point in time when many, many, many Americans are out of work, struggling to pay bills or have had their job outsourced and taken away by illegal immigrants or 3rd world countries receiving those jobs of Americans or American companies. Thus you are not going to get any of the support or sympathy think, and speaking from experience, you will be receiving more anger from your friends, co-workers and the rest of working(or out of work legal citizens) America, remember all those protests and marches by all the illegal Mexicans, Central Americans and South Americans back in spring 2005 and 2006 only magnified the problem USCIS has with controlling the USA borders, thus it awakened a sleeping giant - that 80% plus of American electorate that was shocked to see on national news TV what they consider illegal law breakers protesting for rights they do not have when they are here illegally in the USA in first place and broke US law coming here and living here, then taking away their jobs. Those illegal people have only made it harder on the rest of us that go through the legal channels for US immigration, thus things have gotten stricter, slower processing times and more red tape forms and waits!

It is a mess and it angers you and all of us - so the first thing you think of is well let us go protest and raise hell like every other minority group or illegal entrant group does in the USA, but that is not going to work this time, there is a serious backlash now against all immigrants, mostly the illegal entrants but it affects all of us that are legal also indirectly.

The best solution for quickest response would be to begin encouraging everyone to write, call or go visit their respective US representative and 2 US Senators on a monthly basis. Until the legislature is on board to make a priority with the immigration law, it is not going anywhere. I would not recommend even contacting Bush, he is a lame duck now and an abject failure, and you are not going to get anything out of him, look at how his people handled every other major domestic or foreign crisis for the USA for past 8 years, I mean it is horrible how they operate or well do not operate. And if anyone can afford it, donate to the candidate for president you think will make some serious improvements, and go vote for that one this fall. Sometimes the wheels of democracy and justice turn slow, but they do turn.

From LA Times Mar. 25 (too easy on Gonzalez but good overview of lawsuits against USCIS)

Citizenship delayed

template_bas

template_bas

Legal immigrants shouldn't have to wait for more than a year to have their applications processed.

March 25, 2008

When Emilio Gonzalez steps down next month as director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, he will leave an agency as flawed as he found it. Citizenship application processing is mired in backlogs, disenfranchising legal residents who try to follow the rules and offering a new incentive for others to ignore them.

The agency's inefficiencies, of course, predated Gonzalez's arrival in December 2005. Only days before his Senate confirmation, a federal judge called the agency's structure "byzantine" and ordered immigration officials to issue green cards to thousands of legal permanent residents it had left in citizenship limbo, in some cases for years. Nevertheless, if he couldn't fix past transgressions, Gonzalez could have prevented new ones. The agency was warned that it would be deluged with applications as legal residents sought to avoid the 66% fee increase that went into effect in July, and it was. More than 1.4 million applications had been received by the end of last year, twice as many as in 2006.

Recently, Gonzalez announced some good news: The agency will complete 930,000 applications by Sept. 30, and the time frame for processing will drop to 14 months, down from 16 to 18 months. This certainly is an improvement, if nowhere near the six to seven months that was once standard.

So this is not the moment to blame Gonzalez, but rather to lament the pileup of applications that remains and to hope his successor will be able to quicken the pace. Streamlining the citizenship application process is the single largest issue affecting legal immigrants in the U.S. -- but the current state of affairs encourages illegal immigration too, teaching that queuing up for U.S. citizenship is arduous and possibly futile.

Furthermore, these delays have consequences. Beyond being unable to vote, legal residents cannot obtain certain jobs and benefits, can travel abroad only with great difficulty and cannot begin the family reunification process. Anger is building. In August, the Service Employees International Union sued the government over the increase in application fees, and in December, the American Civil Liberties Union filed suit over lengthy waits for FBI background checks. Earlier this month, the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund sued the U.S. on behalf of Latinos, charging that the government failed to fulfill a core responsibility and grant citizenship to legal applicants.

The broader issue of how to reform our broken immigration system is complicated, and we may debate the fate of millions of illegal immigrants living in the U.S. for months and years to come. But there are aspects of the system that can be fixed right away, and the immigration service's backlog is one of them.

[Gaby&Talbert 1]

Hi Gaby,

I'm not familar with this (plead ignorance), what is the widow's penalty? I'm sure I could google it but it would be beneficial to post as well.

Thanks.

If your US spouse dies before you complete your AOS and you haven't been married 2 years you will be deported.

[coyote 3]

Nice idea, great idealisms and all that stuff but USCIS immigration reform starts at the top and it is an agency that is so large and ingrained into the self preservation of itself that it is going to be hard to go and protest against it and expect to get any response. The political climate and the will of the American voters is not on your side now.

Good luck trying to protest and change it by protest, but you are at a point in time when many, many, many Americans are out of work, struggling to pay bills or have had their job outsourced and taken away by illegal immigrants or 3rd world countries receiving those jobs of Americans or American companies. Thus you are not going to get any of the support or sympathy think, and speaking from experience, you will be receiving more anger from your friends, co-workers and the rest of working(or out of work legal citizens) America, remember all those protests and marches by all the illegal Mexicans, Central Americans and South Americans back in spring 2005 and 2006 only magnified the problem USCIS has with controlling the USA borders, thus it awakened a sleeping giant - that 80% plus of American electorate that was shocked to see on national news TV what they consider illegal law breakers protesting for rights they do not have when they are here illegally in the USA in first place and broke US law coming here and living here, then taking away their jobs. Those illegal people have only made it harder on the rest of us that go through the legal channels for US immigration, thus things have gotten stricter, slower processing times and more red tape forms and waits!

It is a mess and it angers you and all of us - so the first thing you think of is well let us go protest and raise hell like every other minority group or illegal entrant group does in the USA, but that is not going to work this time, there is a serious backlash now against all immigrants, mostly the illegal entrants but it affects all of us that are legal also indirectly.

The best solution for quickest response would be to begin encouraging everyone to write, call or go visit their respective US representative and 2 US Senators on a monthly basis. Until the legislature is on board to make a priority with the immigration law, it is not going anywhere. I would not recommend even contacting Bush, he is a lame duck now and an abject failure, and you are not going to get anything out of him, look at how his people handled every other major domestic or foreign crisis for the USA for past 8 years, I mean it is horrible how they operate or well do not operate. And if anyone can afford it, donate to the candidate for president you think will make some serious improvements, and go vote for that one this fall. Sometimes the wheels of democracy and justice turn slow, but they do turn.

interesting to hear your perspective. thanks. just to clarify I wasn't talking about the kind of mass demonstration you're describing, but some kind of targeted, strategic action not unlike the one you described. I'm still trying to talk to people in D.C. about the best way to go about this. and, yeah, bush, let's not even get started. but I do think some members of Congress have been doing good work on the issue.

sorry to hear your report about friends and co-workers, although not surprising. there do seem to be real differences among Americans when it comes to immigration, both legal and illegal, in this country. most people I knew were sympathetic to the protestors. my friends and colleagues blame globalization and corporations when they have trouble with their jobs, not some poor Mexican who's just trying to survive. But I teach at a university and I'm a journalist so I'm surrounded by educated, liberal-leaning people. I know there's a lot of anti-immigrant feeling, of course! I live in Arizona.

There is a difference, of course, between these issues. We are talking about the rights of U.S. citizens -- us. That's the way to sell the issue. And it also happens to be the truth. We're being treated like illegals.

From LA Times Mar. 25 (too easy on Gonzalez but good overview of lawsuits against USCIS)

Citizenship delayed

template_bas

template_bas

Legal immigrants shouldn't have to wait for more than a year to have their applications processed.

March 25, 2008

When Emilio Gonzalez steps down next month as director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, he will leave an agency as flawed as he found it. Citizenship application processing is mired in backlogs, disenfranchising legal residents who try to follow the rules and offering a new incentive for others to ignore them.

The agency's inefficiencies, of course, predated Gonzalez's arrival in December 2005. Only days before his Senate confirmation, a federal judge called the agency's structure "byzantine" and ordered immigration officials to issue green cards to thousands of legal permanent residents it had left in citizenship limbo, in some cases for years. Nevertheless, if he couldn't fix past transgressions, Gonzalez could have prevented new ones. The agency was warned that it would be deluged with applications as legal residents sought to avoid the 66% fee increase that went into effect in July, and it was. More than 1.4 million applications had been received by the end of last year, twice as many as in 2006.

Recently, Gonzalez announced some good news: The agency will complete 930,000 applications by Sept. 30, and the time frame for processing will drop to 14 months, down from 16 to 18 months. This certainly is an improvement, if nowhere near the six to seven months that was once standard.

So this is not the moment to blame Gonzalez, but rather to lament the pileup of applications that remains and to hope his successor will be able to quicken the pace. Streamlining the citizenship application process is the single largest issue affecting legal immigrants in the U.S. -- but the current state of affairs encourages illegal immigration too, teaching that queuing up for U.S. citizenship is arduous and possibly futile.

Furthermore, these delays have consequences. Beyond being unable to vote, legal residents cannot obtain certain jobs and benefits, can travel abroad only with great difficulty and cannot begin the family reunification process. Anger is building. In August, the Service Employees International Union sued the government over the increase in application fees, and in December, the American Civil Liberties Union filed suit over lengthy waits for FBI background checks. Earlier this month, the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund sued the U.S. on behalf of Latinos, charging that the government failed to fulfill a core responsibility and grant citizenship to legal applicants.

The broader issue of how to reform our broken immigration system is complicated, and we may debate the fate of millions of illegal immigrants living in the U.S. for months and years to come. But there are aspects of the system that can be fixed right away, and the immigration service's backlog is one of them.

[rebeccajo 14]

"There is a difference, of course, between these issues. We are talking about the rights of U.S. citizens -- us. That's the way to sell the issue. And it also happens to be the truth. We're being treated like illegals." - coyote

Coyote -

According to the lobbyists I have spoken with, the way to 'sell' the issue to the public (and to Congress) is National Security.