Political Organizing to Protest USCIS Delays

[zqt3344 21]

No offense to you, but that is the problem, liberal leaning people/groups or higher educated or university people or liberal out of touch media are in the minority here, think about it. Less than 20 or 10% of US population is in your demographic. Also many voting Americans are thoroughly put out and disgusted with how the current US president and Congress has absolutely failed at enforcing immigration laws for past 8 years or more while they all suffer from the ill effects of illegal immigration, NAFTA, out sourcing of jobs, etc and in their eyes law breakers of US laws. I do not even mention or try to discuss or get into a debate with mainstream America about immigration, I will lose ever time, and oh sure they will all sit there and say they do not mind a poor illegal Mexican or Latin worker hopping the Rio Grande or the US border looking for work to your face, but get them alone or off to the side off the record and you will see and get how they really feel, a total hatred of immigrants now because in their mind it is not like it was with a legal organized process at Ellis Island from all their history books in school, it is now this total mess that we have now.

Quite simply, the best way is through small steps, contacting Congressman(women) monthly or basically if everyone on VJ wants to get really serious they need to all donate and set up a PAC or hire lobbyists to go to Washington DC and represent our interests, sorry but money talks and idealism walks when working in the US politics, speaking from experience. Best that we try getting a little at a time changing the legal immigration process for those of us that do it the right way and follow the USA laws, we should be taken care of and rewarded first and foremost, not the illegals or the lawbreakers, for it is because of them that we have this hostile situation that the rest of us are now forced to throw ourselves into when we go to marry someone from another country and file for visas, or GC or citizenship.

I mean think about it, what better way for the current federal government to thump it's chest and announce look, we are getting tough on immigration and cracking down then to just screw down on the only thing they currently have control over - those of us that file the legal way and follow the rules and laws and pay the fees! We are the ones that suffer, it is not the illegals, they get a free ride and a free pass and will apparently stop at nothing to continue breaking USA immigration laws or any other laws once here in the USA with total disrespect for the USA. I mean the bottom line is, these people that come to the USA illegally are lawbreakers and should not be rewarded or allowed to stay under any circumstance, I used to feel like well why not it is only one or two or a few or a poor Latin family looking for a better life in the USA - but the side effects and the ill will caused by this massive turning of the blind eye to this serious problem has now hurt all of us. Believe me there is a serious backlash against any immigrant now, speaking from personal experience, you have to play your cards right, because just having the GC and being perfectly legal still does not keep my fellow Americans from taking a more critical view of my spouse, even if the spouse is perfectly legal! Automatically we come under suspicion of "How did you get here" or "how did you meet" or "do you have a GC" or "is your spouse legal" and even if they are lot of people are resentful of someone coming from another country to take their job or possibly pass them by and displace them. IT is real and it is happening and it is mainstream America that is feeling this resentment and they do vote and they all overwhelmingly are in favor or deporting and seriously enforcing existing immigration laws. And an end note, even my own spouse does not understand how the USA government stands around and allows illegal entrants into the USA the same rights as citizens when they have broken USA laws - think about it, quite the ultimate paradox is it not, I mean you have legal immigrants going through hell, long waits, expensive fees, filling out paperwork and jumping through hoops on interviews at embassies, gathering up all this ongoing documents to constantly prove themselves to the USCIS, sitting and waiting in a bureaucratic mess called legal immigration - then they soon start learning from watching and reading the US news how there are all these illegals that came into the USA and they are sitting here scratching their head asking "Wait a minute I thought the USA was fair and just and the most grandest justice following country in the world, the leader, yet why have I been subjected to this immigration process and unable to work legally for months while waiting on GC or EAD, yet I see all these illegals on TV marching and protesting or raising hell on TV interviews or in the media or newsprint services" I mean how do you explain it to a new immigrant that came to the USA legally and look them in the eye, you cannot, and I have not even tried, I only say well eventually it is a wrong that will be righted. I just got my eyes opened to the real serious problem with illegals and what they have created and caused for the rest of us doing it the legal, law-abiding way of the USA immigration law. It is not right nor fair and it is an injustice to each and every one of us going through this VJ process.

And I used to feel - so what or who cares if an illegal comes into the USA to work, they are doing what anyone would do or they are trying to better themselves or they are doing work someone else would not do or they are providing cheap labor for jobs that would cause all of us as consumers to pay more for. Well those statements are ill founded and do not hold truth, the side effects of illegals coming into the USA has not been good overall for the entire US populace, and I am speaking from personal observations over many years now, and now with going through USCIS process. We live in a civilized country in the USA, and if we are to keep it civilized, then we must continue to have rules and laws that protect the freedoms of our USA citizens that do live civilly and follow the USA rule of law.

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

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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.

[Jack and Barbara 0]

Sometimes it makes me laugh when I think it would be quicker and possibly cheaper to get my SO over here illegally (not that I would ever seriously consider it).

[rebeccajo 14]

Sometimes it makes me laugh when I think it would be quicker and possibly cheaper to get my SO over here illegally (not that I would ever seriously consider it).

I know you were joking, but I really don't think it's anything to laugh about.

You wouldn't want someone you love to live always looking over their shoulder.

[Jack and Barbara 0]

Sometimes it makes me laugh when I think it would be quicker and possibly cheaper to get my SO over here illegally (not that I would ever seriously consider it).

I know you were joking, but I really don't think it's anything to laugh about.

You wouldn't want someone you love to live always looking over their shoulder.

Well, that's the irony of it. That it would be "quicker and possibly cheaper" for a loved one to come over illegally than to come through legal immigration. There is some incentive for those to do just that, even at the expense of living in fear.

[zqt3344 21]

Agreed, it is the sad state of affairs all this immigration has come to, it is truly frustrating, but I agree with the point you make. Hang in there, it just takes time and patience and money - and lots of it!

Sometimes it makes me laugh when I think it would be quicker and possibly cheaper to get my SO over here illegally (not that I would ever seriously consider it).

I know you were joking, but I really don't think it's anything to laugh about.

You wouldn't want someone you love to live always looking over their shoulder.

Well, that's the irony of it. That it would be "quicker and possibly cheaper" for a loved one to come over illegally than to come through legal immigration. There is some incentive for those to do just that, even at the expense of living in fear.

[rebeccajo 14]

Sometimes it makes me laugh when I think it would be quicker and possibly cheaper to get my SO over here illegally (not that I would ever seriously consider it).

I know you were joking, but I really don't think it's anything to laugh about.

You wouldn't want someone you love to live always looking over their shoulder.

Well, that's the irony of it. That it would be "quicker and possibly cheaper" for a loved one to come over illegally than to come through legal immigration. There is some incentive for those to do just that, even at the expense of living in fear.

Maybe that's where I see things quite a bit differently than you based upon where my husband and I are with his immigration.

You are still separated. We aren't.

At this point it's only natural for speed of reunification to be your top priority.

We however went through a very lengthy and stressful 17 month adjustment of status. I'm keenly aware of how tenuous an immigrants presence can be in our country. You see, even though we were reunited, I sometimes wondered if it were possible my husband could be sent back home.

My main issues with DHS/USCIS are transparency of the process as it regards the background investigations of our loved ones, and due process insofar as their legal rights are concerned.

I wanted to be reunited with my husband. But more importantly, I wanted a long life with him here in the US without the interference of the US government, and with their blessing.

[Jack and Barbara 0]

Sometimes it makes me laugh when I think it would be quicker and possibly cheaper to get my SO over here illegally (not that I would ever seriously consider it).

I know you were joking, but I really don't think it's anything to laugh about.

You wouldn't want someone you love to live always looking over their shoulder.

Well, that's the irony of it. That it would be "quicker and possibly cheaper" for a loved one to come over illegally than to come through legal immigration. There is some incentive for those to do just that, even at the expense of living in fear.

Maybe that's where I see things quite a bit differently than you based upon where my husband and I are with his immigration.

You are still separated. We aren't.

At this point it's only natural for speed of reunification to be your top priority.

We however went through a very lengthy and stressful 17 month adjustment of status. I'm keenly aware of how tenuous an immigrants presence can be in our country. You see, even though we were reunited, I sometimes wondered if it were possible my husband could be sent back home.

My main issues with DHS/USCIS are transparency of the process as it regards the background investigations of our loved ones, and due process insofar as their legal rights are concerned.

I wanted to be reunited with my husband. But more importantly, I wanted a long life with him here in the US without the interference of the US government, and with their blessing.

I don't think we're disagreeing with each other ultimately. I'm talking about how it is ironic that some would consider the illegal route because of the bureacracy involved with USCIS and the lengthy process. Obviously, it is still worth the wait because our SOs would immigrate here legally.

Racial profiling isnt going away anytime soon, but so long as our SOs come here legally and get through the AOS and become naturalized (albeit a very lengthy process), they aren't going to be deported. We haven't gotten to the AOS step yet, but from almost 2 1/2 years of seeing each other 2x a year, I can say on my own that the distance has not been easy, but it's worth the wait.

Hopefully, with some pressure on the government, USCIS, etc, the wait will shorten for us all.

[rebeccajo 14]

I don't think we're disagreeing with each other ultimately. I'm talking about how it is ironic that some would consider the illegal route because of the bureacracy involved with USCIS and the lengthy process. Obviously, it is still worth the wait because our SOs would immigrate here legally.

Racial profiling isnt going away anytime soon, but so long as our SOs come here legally and get through the AOS and become naturalized (albeit a very lengthy process), they aren't going to be deported. We haven't gotten to the AOS step yet, but from almost 2 1/2 years of seeing each other 2x a year, I can say on my own that the distance has not been easy, but it's worth the wait.

Hopefully, with some pressure on the government, USCIS, etc, the wait will shorten for us all.

"Racial profiling" wasn't an issue for my husbands adjustment. He was caught in security clearance - FBI namecheck.

I wasn't overly distraught (most days) about the length of time it was taking. But in dark moments, I knew there were rare instances where an immigrants identity becomes confused with that of an undesirable person. And that confusion can lead to great difficulties.

I agree the process is too lengthy and cumbersome. But I don't want just speed - I want accuracy. And I want fair play for the immigrant. Google around and you'll read heartbreaking tale after another about families legally separated because of some wrinkle in the law - something they honestly didn't understand or some minor immigration infraction they unknowingly violated.

You're right - we don't disagree. But if you study the process a bit more, I know you'll find more injustices within it than the length of time we wait on our visas. And I hope you don't wait on yours much longer.

[Gaby&Talbert 1]

USCIS could cut the time down to a fraction of what it is now if they would go 100% electronic on petition submittals. Their is no reason every petition could be filed electronically. All supporting documents could be scanned as attachments when submitted. This would give everyone their NOA1 instantly. Just think how many jobs could be cut at USCIS just by this process? The time in the current process spent transferring documents also would be eliminated. This would allow USCIS to focus on hiring and training adjudicators and not so much support staff that would no longer be needed.

[TracyTN 237]

USCIS could cut the time down to a fraction of what it is now if they would go 100% electronic on petition submittals. Their is no reason every petition could be filed electronically.

There is a reason - the USCIS' current system would not support that. That's what they're supposed to be working towards after the fee increase, but the wheels of govt turn slow. We'll have to see how that develops over time.

[zqt3344 21]

A dubious claim it is you have, prove it.

USCIS could cut the time down to a fraction of what it is now if they would go 100% electronic on petition submittals. Their is no reason every petition could be filed electronically.

There is a reason - the USCIS' current system would not support that. That's what they're supposed to be working towards after the fee increase, but the wheels of govt turn slow. We'll have to see how that develops over time.

[rebeccajo 14]

You can prove it to yourself by reading the Ombudsman's Report, wherein you will find reportings of the actual hardware on adjudicator's desks.

A dubious claim it is you have, prove it.

USCIS could cut the time down to a fraction of what it is now if they would go 100% electronic on petition submittals. Their is no reason every petition could be filed electronically.

There is a reason - the USCIS' current system would not support that. That's what they're supposed to be working towards after the fee increase, but the wheels of govt turn slow. We'll have to see how that develops over time.

[Ilya R. 0]

You can prove it to yourself by reading the Ombudsman's Report, wherein you will find reportings of the actual hardware on adjudicator's desks.

A dubious claim it is you have, prove it.

USCIS could cut the time down to a fraction of what it is now if they would go 100% electronic on petition submittals. Their is no reason every petition could be filed electronically.

There is a reason - the USCIS' current system would not support that. That's what they're supposed to be working towards after the fee increase, but the wheels of govt turn slow. We'll have to see how that develops over time.

Just Reading Reports doesnt mean its true. Bush's Sources reported that IRAQ had WMDs, but I guess they were wrong..... And Ombudsman is just a non working agency.... kinda like BBB for corporations, good in theory bad in practice...

[rebeccajo 14]

You can prove it to yourself by reading the Ombudsman's Report, wherein you will find reportings of the actual hardware on adjudicator's desks.

A dubious claim it is you have, prove it.

USCIS could cut the time down to a fraction of what it is now if they would go 100% electronic on petition submittals. Their is no reason every petition could be filed electronically.

There is a reason - the USCIS' current system would not support that. That's what they're supposed to be working towards after the fee increase, but the wheels of govt turn slow. We'll have to see how that develops over time.

Just Reading Reports doesnt mean its true. Bush's Sources reported that IRAQ had WMDs, but I guess they were wrong..... And Ombudsman is just a non working agency.... kinda like BBB for corporations, good in theory bad in practice...

So you are saying the Ombudsman would incorrectly report about the technology USCIS presently has available in order to justify deliberately NOT immediately switching to electronic processing?

[TracyTN 237]

Beyond that, have you ever known the government to implement anything quickly? Common sense alone should tell you it would take some time.