Compiling the info Re: DACA applications impacting the K1 and the I130 petitions

[Kaylara 814]

Hello, I'm working on getting together all of the information that we've come up with that supports our hypothesis about the DACA applications impacting our petitions and previously those of the K1 petitioners. Besides believing that it's a good idea to put all the info in one place, I think that it may help in developing an information packet that we can send out to our representatives. I'd like to include the spreadsheets on here, and our past letters, along with any additional pertinent information regarding the USCIS's performance record that has impacted us (like the absurd RFE's and why we think they're doing it.) Obviously, this is a large volume of information, so any help you could give in helping to find it and post it here would be greatly appreciated.

[quitepainful 56]

Yes, i am freaked out by the obsurd RFE's... waiting to get transferred...

[Ontarkie 14,419]

~~Moved to General Immigration-Related Discussion~~

[Boiler 45,965]

If you send it to a Republican well they are on side anyway. Anything against Obama.

If you send it to a Democrat they will deny it.

So what is the point?

[Kaylara 814]

The point is attempting to introduce a legislative fix to our problems here. If the Comprehensive Immigration Reform or Republican proposal goes through without a provision that ensures that they do not create an insane backlog to the K1 and IR/CR filers, then they will be looking at crazy long processing times as they are the only immigration classes without numerical limits or time frames that need to be met. If we want to be considered at all in the immigration process and the current debate, we need to make our concerns known, not just to the public at large, but to our representatives.

You would think that the Republicans would be all over the DACA applications getting preference over US Citizens. But thus far, they really have not taken any notice. I think that putting together a well presented and researched packet will increase our chances of being taken seriously as opposed to just a few crackpots whinging about the USCIS.

I think that we should do what we can to improve the system that we have. We need to identify the problems, find the evidence that supports our stance, articulate how the facts support our stance, and provide a well thought out solution to that problem. The point is to not just take what we're given, but actively try to improve the situation for all of the people who are going to have to go through this process in the future. I know that I wouldn't wish the pain of separation on anyone else. Why would I just throw up my hands and give up when I feel there's a real opportunity to change things for the better?

[waiting_______ 92]

Hello, I'm working on getting together all of the information that we've come up with that supports our hypothesis about the DACA applications impacting our petitions and previously those of the K1 petitioners. Besides believing that it's a good idea to put all the info in one place, I think that it may help in developing an information packet that we can send out to our representatives. I'd like to include the spreadsheets on here, and our past letters, along with any additional pertinent information regarding the USCIS's performance record that has impacted us (like the absurd RFE's and why we think they're doing it.) Obviously, this is a large volume of information, so any help you could give in helping to find it and post it here would be greatly appreciated.

Hi Kaylara,

I think you might have this info already. Emails from USCIS that specifically state that the I-130 are going to be handled at local offices due to DACA case load.

Following is an FOIA request on an unrelated matter from Judical watch that has lots of good info.

I had sent this along with lots of supporting data to my senator's office.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/145514197/2013-HQFO-00304-Combined-Redacted-Part1 (Pg 38 is a good starting point)

Example:

From:

Dooley, Sharon V

Sent:

Wednesday, September 05, 2012 2:18 PM

To:

Borges, Luis R; Goudge, Laurie A; Kenney, Trudy L; Schweich, Margaret A; Porche, Sheri L (CTR);Moris, Louis J

Cc:

# SPM ISO

Subject:

FW: I130s to the field

Importance:

High

Due to the volume of DACA work at the Service Center, it has been determined that the field will besent I-130’s to adjudicate. We should get immediate relatives only. I do not know how many we willreceive but we could see them as early as the week of 9/17/12. The field will be responsible forrequesting the A-files. Please let me know when you start receiving them in the mailroom. Thanks,

Sharon Dooley

Sharon Dooley Field Office DirectorU.S. Citizenship and Immigration ServicesSaint Paul

Office: // BB:

[waiting_______ 92]

Another example from the emails:

From:

Douglas, David M

Sent:

Friday, July 27, 2012 11:22 AM

To:

#KAN - CIS; #WIC - CIS; #STL - CIS; # OMA CIS; # DSM Field Office; # SPM Field Office

Subject:

Midsummer Update

To all District 15 Employees, Greetings to all of District 15! I thought this would be a good time for me to send out a messagethat might touch on a few topics and reiterate how excited I am to be here with you working towardour shared goals. After having a chance to see each of the offices within the district at least once, Iam aware of your hard work, our challenges, and our opportunities to make decisions and protectthe nation. There are more challenges ahead, of course. I’m sure many of you have been eager to find outmore about how our agency will meet the challenge of the “Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals”or DACA program as it has become known. I must ask for your continued patience to some extent,as many of the procedures on how these requests will be processed are still being designed. Youcan anticipate more information arriving on August 1

st

, which the Secretary has designated as theagency’s due date. We will most likely begin allowing requests to be filed in the middle of August. One by-product of DACA will be field offices taking on work that has previously been processed atthe Service Centers. Again, some of the final decisions are still in development, but it appears likelythat the field will be taking on I-130 (IR) cases at least temporarily. In order to prepare for thatwork, we have been challenged with doing everything we can to eliminate older cases andcontinued pending cases so that more time can be devoted to these petitions. To the extentpossible, we need to ensure that our I-485 and N-400 processing times remain within the targeted

.....

David M. Douglas

District DirectorUSCIS District 15, Kansas City

[Kaylara 814]

I'll just leave these links here so I can pull the info out of them later:

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/459909-usc-green-card-petitioners-committee/

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/464330-letter-to-house-judiciary-committee-on-delays-of-i-130/

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/477369-usc-green-card-petitioners-committee-organization-and-agenda-moving-forward/

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/466717-new-letter-writing-campaign-this-time-congress/

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/475277-new-i-130-data-and-the-next-letter-campaign/

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/425084-new-letter-writing-campaign-to-ombudsman/

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/468148-2nd-letter-to-house-jud-cmte-i-130-delays-by-uscis/

https://docs.google.com/document/d/11ymKxccFkwNCS782HQTh7RiV-WryCfEd0GiQXzc_QEk/edit?usp=sharing&pli=1

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/456636-letter-from-the-nbc-confirming-13-month-processing-time/

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/471512-response-to-i-130-processing-times/

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/470763-thoughts-on-keeping-families-together-and-a-possible-petition/

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/471284-no-change-at-uscis-after-all/

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/471392-uscis-processing-time/

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/471193-new-uscis-processing-numbers-our-on-dash-for-october/

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/471088-the-intolerable-delay-for-relative-petitions-rob-cohen-aila/

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/469431-being-citizen-is-worse-than-pr-for-processing-times/

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/466577-email-from-uscis/

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/465983-failure-of-the-uscis-executive-leadership-separation-of-us-citizens-from-their-foreign-spouses-for-almost-15-years/

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/466279-i-130-petitioners-be-heard/

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/461414-list-months-of-transfers-for-workload-in-october-from-nbc/

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/477951-uscis-estimates-vs-vjs-time-capsule/

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/477014-i-130-performance-data-published/

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/477114-new-processing-times/

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/476256-uscis-monthly-update-january-12014/

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/475196-tsc-type-of-rfe/

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/474341-insufferably-incompetent/

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/474238-rfe-lies/

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/473572-number-crunching-letter-to-senators/

January: https://docs.google....ZJYmwtdmc#gid=0

February: https://docs.google....Y1cXBNbFE#gid=0

March: https://docs.google....rive_web#gid=19

April: https://docs.google....p=sharing#gid=0

May: https://docs.google....RkWDZUSEE#gid=0

June: https://docs.google....xaNjJzUGc#gid=0

July: https://docs.google....p=sharing#gid=0

August: https://docs.google....5uUGF5WGc#gid=0

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/424498-april-2013-i-130-filers/page-225

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/424498-april-2013-i-130-filers/page-228

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/424498-april-2013-i-130-filers/page-255

http://www.uscis.gov/tools/ombudsman-liaison/ombudsman-teleconference-qas/cis-ombudsman-teleconference-application-processing-times-conversation-uscis-wednesday-april-27-2011

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/424498-april-2013-i-130-filers/page-259

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/424498-april-2013-i-130-filers/page-260

http://www.uscis.gov/tools/ombudsman-liaison/uscis-responses-annual-reports-congress

http://www.dhs.gov/ombudsmans-annual-report-congress

Ugh, that's enough for tonight. I'll put up and pull out the relevant info for these tomorrow.

[Darnell 8,479]

there's some data sets that were mined in August 2012 to March 2013 at the uscis status portal . I won't be able to find the links for you until much later next week, and I think I have one of the rough datasets stored on another computer.

[op, post #1, this was for you]

Edited February 6, 2014 by Darnell

[Boiler 45,965]

DACA may be one of many things where they are keeping their powder dry for when it matters more. It would be a waste using it now.

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

The thing is, Kaylara, that this is how USCIS works. They move resources from one thing to another, they focus on one thing for a while, then focus on another thing for a while. If it hadn't been DACA, then it would have been something else. While paying attention to immigration, I have seen slowdowns from an influx of many things, and every time, VJ has gotten really angry and made all kinds of racist accusations (You should have seen the threads about Haitian TPS slowing things down; I think many were removed) and mega threads trying to "compile" data. Then once they get their visas, they don't care any more.

The processing time for immediate relatives of USCs should be shorter. But turning this into a political thing, that "illegals" were above US citizens, is short-sighted, imo. It could have very well been any other thing.

People on VJ forget that USCIS is dealing with so many things, because all they see is family-based visas. USCIS already knows that they let I-130s go too long and they clearly are addressing it.

[Kaylara 814]

Thank you Darnell! I do remember something about that.

Are you referring to

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/421247-i-129f-delay-at-the-csc-a-comprehensive-analysis-of-the-data/

&

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/421608-a-guide-to-writing-your-elected-representatives-about-the-i-129f-slowdown-at-the-csc/

?

[Boiler 45,965]

Priorities are set by Politicians.

There is probably not much money in Immigration priorities, but there are votes, or more importantly they think there are votes.

It was pretty obvious that the votes in DACA etc were the issue.

[Kaylara 814]

The thing is, Kaylara, that this is how USCIS works. They move resources from one thing to another, they focus on one thing for a while, then focus on another thing for a while. If it hadn't been DACA, then it would have been something else. While paying attention to immigration, I have seen slowdowns from an influx of many things, and every time, VJ has gotten really angry and made all kinds of racist accusations (You should have seen the threads about Haitian TPS slowing things down; I think many were removed) and mega threads trying to "compile" data. Then once they get their visas, they don't care any more.

The processing time for immediate relatives of USCs should be shorter. But turning this into a political thing, that "illegals" were above US citizens, is short-sighted, imo. It could have very well been any other thing.

People on VJ forget that USCIS is dealing with so many things, because all they see is family-based visas. USCIS already knows that they let I-130s go too long and they clearly are addressing it.

But it *wasn't* any other thing. I have absolutely no problem with the DACA petitioners. I think that they should be able to stay in the US without fear of being deported. My beef is with the way the USCIS implemented DACA's processing. As I said, the way the USCIS works is bad. Their fix is inadequate. Too little, too late. I'm not content to just accept this. You may be entirely content to do so, good for you. I just have no clue why you feel the need to actively discourage other people who *ARE* trying to fix things. How exactly do you think change happens without pressure?

I have no idea why you're trying to call me a racist. Or equate me with a racist. Either way, it's not true and I don't appreciate the insinuation.

Other people might not care after they get their visa. I am not one of those people. I've been told repeatedly how *I* am going to react, how *I* am going to behave. If other people disappear after they get their visa, that's their decision. But that does not dictate my behavior. I see quite a few people on here who are already done with immigration and still come back here for whatever reason. Either to help, or to actively discourage. But either way, they didn't get their visa and just piss off.

IF some form of CIR goes through, it *WILL* be changing a lot of the way the system works. I think it behooves us to try to ensure that our interests are represented.

If you don't want to help, then don't. You're not providing a reality check. Actively discouraging people is not helpful, not necessary, and not wanted. We're already aware of what we're up against.

there's some data sets that were mined in August 2012 to March 2013 at the uscis status portal . I won't be able to find the links for you until much later next week, and I think I have one of the rough datasets stored on another computer.

[op, post #1, this was for you]

Thank you! I'll try to look for it as well, when I have a moment!

Edited February 6, 2014 by Kaylara

[Kaylara 814]

Priorities are set by Politicians.

There is probably not much money in Immigration priorities, but there are votes, or more importantly they think there are votes.

It was pretty obvious that the votes in DACA etc were the issue.

Then it's our job to make sure that we're US Citizens with families and friends who care about us, and we can vote RIGHT NOW not at some vague possible point in the future.