Letter to House Judiciary Committee on delays of I-130

[naam_2013 72]

All are good efforts as far asI am concerned and I thank everyone. I do think that the most important thing is the number of vjers who will get the faxes and emails out. I am going to dig and try to find as many media sources that might be willing to listen as I can. They carry a lot of weight.

By the way, does anyone have a fax number for Bob Goodlatte that works? 202-225-7680 has been kicked back twice on me. Yes, I messed up and started sending faxes a week early! .

I called the office of House Judiciary committee on Friday to verify the fax number and they told me the same: 202-225-7680; if this does not work, then we will fax the letter to the office of Bob Goodlatte: 202-225-9681.

Email to Bob Goodlatte can be send via: http://goodlatte.house.gov/contacts/new

[naam_2013 72]

Newer version: I fixed spelling errors and removed the quote from former the DHS Secretary as it was related to DACA. The text of this letter won't fit on one page as is in 12 point font. The footnotes and signature are spilling over. Any ideas?

November 19, 2013

Mr. Chairman:

Due to the failure of executive leadership at United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the average national processing time for I-130 petitions for immediate relatives of US Citizens has increased to 13 months. I have found that contrary to its stated core values of Integrity, Respect, and Ingenuity, USCIS is ignoring delegated legal responsibilities, mistreating US citizen families, and purposely accruing case backlogs. I am writing you with the hope that the House Judiciary Committee will realize the need to take swift action to remedy the failures of leadership at USCIS.

The I-130, Petition for Alien Relative, is the first step immediate relatives of US Citizens must complete in order to obtain legal resident visas. Approved beneficiaries still must be vetted by the National Visa Center as well as embassies and consulates around the world before a visa is issued. Bureaucratic delays have directly affected adjudication of petitions for which there is no statutory limitation. 201(b)(2)(A)(i) [8 U.S.C. 1151] Working for family unification should be the first priority of all USCIS decisions.

Despite pilot programs and workload transfers tried in the past, USCIS has never been able to provide I-130 petitioners a transparent process or definite processing times for immediate relative petitions. Documents obtained by a Freedom of Information Act request show that since September 17, 2012 USCIS has taken adjudicators off the processing of I-130 petitions at USCIS service centers (California, Texas, Vermont) and designated all petitions to be routed through the National Benefits Center.¹ This decision was made knowing that the National Benefits Center was not properly staffed to adjudicate I-130 petitions and was made without a definite timeframe to resume work. Multiple requests for assistance made to Congressmen and Senators by petitioners have shown that USCIS still has no definite timeframe for adjudication of pending I-130 petitions.

According to the most recent USCIS I-130 Petition Performance report, the National Benefits Center completed the processing of only 2,755 petitions in the first two quarters of the 2013 Fiscal Year (October 2012-March 2013). In the same reporting period, the National Benefits Center received 254,890 petitions and has now accrued a backlog of 523,874 pending cases.² I believe the few petitions that the National Benefits managed to process to be limited to expedited cases. Despite announcements of USCIS efforts to dedicate staff to process I-130 petitions in Overland Park, KS, USCIS has failed to train or re-assign staff needed to process this caseload in a timely manner.³ After a year of indecision, the I-130 workload is only now being transferred from the National Benefits Center to regional service centers.⁴

If USCIS Processing tables are correct, there are pending I-130 petitions with priority dates as old as October 1, 2012 which have yet to be processed.⁵ As far back as 2006, the USCIS Ombudsman advised against the accrual of backlogs as “...there are substantial costs involved in storing and retrieving applications as well as the resources expended for follow-ups, customer inquiries, address changes, etc."⁶ These financial costs, however, will never compare to the human cost of lost time with loved ones separated by USCIS' continuing inefficiency.

I request that the House Judiciary Committee investigates the needless backlog of pending I-130 Immediate Relative Petitions and direct USCIS to re-evaluate its current adjudication priorities.

Sincerely,

Name Surname

¹http://www.scribd.com/doc/145514197/2013-HQFO-00304-Combined-Redacted-Part1

²http://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/USCIS/Resources/Reports%20and%20Studies/Immigration%20Forms%20Data/Employment-based/I130_performancedata_fy2013_qtr2.pdf

³http://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/USCIS/Outreach/Notes%20from%20Previous%20Engagements/2013/May%202013/NBC-AILA-QA-2013-05-01.pdf

⁴http://www.uscis.gov/news/alerts/workload-transfer-national-benefits-center-service-centers

⁵https://egov.uscis.gov/cris/processingTimesDisplay.do

⁶http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/CISOmbudsman_AnnualReport_2006.pdf

Thanks for your hard work.

We MUST specify the subject of letter, so that the audience does not need to read the entire letter to figure out the purpose.

The letter will be more than 1 page, but the message and signature of the person will be on 1st page and the name of CC recipients and reference to websites will be on 2nd page, that should be OK.

I have formatted the letter in Arial 11.

I have uploaded the letter in Google docs: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1aU0f9uipzXl8JOweHWjrUhChVX3Oon02b6x3ZoJ44hY/edit?usp=sharing

[lovex3 1]

Thanks for your hard work.

We MUST specify the subject of letter, so that the audience does not need to read the entire letter to figure out the purpose.

The letter will be more than 1 page, but the message and signature of the person will be on 1st page and the name of CC recipients and reference to websites will be on 2nd page, that should be OK.

I have formatted the letter in Arial 11.

I have uploaded the letter in Google docs: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1aU0f9uipzXl8JOweHWjrUhChVX3Oon02b6x3ZoJ44hY/edit?usp=sharing

Thank you, this is so helpful. I will try and do my best to spread the word to anyone else that might be interested!

[lovex3 1]

Are we trying to email it to everyone on this list?

Here are the POCs:

1.The Honorable Bob Goodlatte - Chairman House Judiciary Committee

Fax: 202-225-7680

Phone: 202-225-3951

Email: http://goodlatte.house.gov/contacts/new

Postal: 2138 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515

2. Director USCIS: Alejandro Mayorkas

Fax: 202-272-8118

Email: alejandro.mayorkas@dhs.gov and alejandro.mayorkas@hq.dhs.gov and uscisfrcomments@dhs.gov

Postal: 20 Massachusetts Ave NW, Washington DC 20529

3. Deputy Director USCIS: Lori Scialabba

Fax: 202-272-8118

Email: Lori.Scialabba@dhs.gov and Lori.Scialabba@hq.dhs.gov

4. Maria M. Odom - Ombudsman USCIS

Fax: 202-357-0042

Email: cisombudsman@dhs.gov; maria.m.odom@dhs.gov and maria.m.odom@hq.dhs.gov

5. Brandi Blackburn, Assistant Center Director for NBC Division 8 in Overland Park, KS

Fax: 816-350-5785

Email: a. brandi.blackburn@uscis.dhs.gov; b. brandi.a.blackburn@uscis.dhs.gov (http://www.zoominfo....burn/1845657423)

c. brandi.blackburn@dhs.gov; d. brandi.a.blackburn@dhs.gov

6. Director: Nancy W. Guilliams - Office of Administration-USCIS

Fax: 202-272-1553

7. Secretary DHS: Mr. Randy Beers

Fax: 202-295-0870

Email: rand.beers@hq.dhs.gov

8. Washington Post - Letter to Editor

Email: letters@washpost.com

9. AILA

Email: executive@aila.org and newsroom@aila.org

10. Sean Hannity - Fox News

Email: http://www.hannity.com/contact

About the date of letter:

We can push it out a week at most, so we need to send it no later than Tuesday 11/19.

The reason I picked Tuesday is the hope that it might get some attention, Monday being the 1st working day after 2 days OFF is usually not recommended; and if the letter gets there Tuesday, still 4 working days in the week.

If we delay beyond 11/19, then it will be Tuesday 12/3, and IMHO that is too far out. 11/26 is not feasible because it is a short week due to Thanksgiving.

Thanks to all who provided feedback to the letter, I will update it as I get more feedback.

A short and good read: http://www.askalana.com/stories/starfish.shtml

[naam_2013 72]

Are we trying to email it to everyone on this list?

Yes, to all of them; for the people in US the first preference is fax, and if fax is not available, then email.

If our beneficiary or family/friends sending this from outside the US, then email will be fine, as fax might be pricey for overseas.

[lucybelle 453]

Just got about 30 friends and family to send on Tuesday! I asked them to also ask a friend to send. So if each of them ask one friend, then we'll have 60!

[lucybelle 453]

Problem with the contact Bob Goodlatte form. You need a local address to do so!

Is there an address we can use? I'm trying to get people from all over the USA/world to do this for us!

[Kaylara 814]

Just got about 30 friends and family to send on Tuesday! I asked them to also ask a friend to send. So if each of them ask one friend, then we'll have 60!

Question, should we also be faxing/emailing a copy to our congressmen/women and senators?

[twin810s 23]

I just called Bob Goodlatte's office (since that office is not our local rep. and unable to fill that online webmail form). They are unable to provide any email addresses and said they would transfer me to someone to speak to me about any issues. I told her I saw a fax number and she advised to take that route. Now the problem is if we do not have access to a fax machine...So maybe we should then submit that to our local representative?

Edited November 18, 2013 by twin810s

[Blueberry Pancake 311]

I just called Bob Goodlatte's office (since that office is not our local rep. and unable to fill that online webmail form). They are unable to provide any email addresses and said they would transfer me to someone to speak to me about any issues. I told her I saw a fax number and she advised to take that route. Now the problem is if we do not have access to a fax machine...So maybe we should then submit that to our local representative?

Try this then : http://faxzero.com/

I am so excited about tomorrow, people!

[lucybelle 453]

Okay about the address- I just did a test trial (I'll send the email again tomorrow).

For address put: S Main St

City: Harrisonburg

Zip: 22801

Mine went through just fine with that info.

[BOS_LHR 829]

Try this then : http://faxzero.com/

I am so excited about tomorrow, people!

Another free fax service: http://www.gotfreefax.com. This one doesn't put ads on our docs and the cover page is optional =D Get ready everyone, the time's almost here! Heartfelt thanks to everyone who's been organizing this effort.

[naam_2013 72]

I have updated the POC with 2 more:

11. Senator John Cornyn - Ranking Member U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee

Fax: 202-228-2281 (committee office) OR 202-228-2856 (direct office)

12. Senator Chuck Schumer - Chairman U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee

Fax: 202-228-2281 (committee office) OR 202-228-3027 (direct office)

The Senate Judiciary Committee oversees immigration policy.

[LRKO 53]

Can we send one email to all the recipients or do we need to send individually with a change in name on each letter? Thanks!

[Hotter Otter 1,211]

Can we send one email to all the recipients or do we need to send individually with a change in name on each letter? Thanks!

I'm just sending one and copying all the other recipients in