Immigration Officers "reassigned on emergency basis" to deal with southern border

[NYC10065 24]

There has been a lot of media coverage of a "crisis" on the southern border involving thousands of unaccompanied children arriving at the border. The most recent media reports suggest that "immigration officers" will be reassigned on an emergency basis. (See following article: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/21/us/us-plans-to-step-up-detention-and-deportation-of-migrants.html?hpw&rref=us).

Does anyone have any indication on whether or not this will impact the number of officers that are adjudicating AOS petitions?

[Mollie09 1,543]

I'm hoping this isn't like DACA, when they swore it wouldn't impact petitions and yet they started taking over a year to process AOS.

It's always the people who follow the rules who get the short end of the stick

Edited June 22, 2014 by F1H1I130

[NYC10065 24]

That's my concern exactly. If IOs are being "reassigned on an emergency basis", are they taking away those same IOs from adjudicating AOS petitions? If so, it would certainly be quite unfair for law abiding applicants to be penalized because of a "surge" in illegal crossings. If anyone has any clarification on this, it would be great.

I'm not trying to get into a debate about immigration reform. I am only interested in resource allocation and what anyone has heard about the impact this latest issue will have on processing timelines.

[Hypnos 6,576]

CBP patrols the border, and USCIS adjudicates petitions. They are two different agencies under the Department of Homeland Security.

[FelixTX 2]

When did that reassignment happen? I heard of that story before so I didn't open the link, sorry.

But for example the Dallas Office, had already 8 months processing time... And people said they were working on it... I checked the new numbers beginning of June and after one month, it takes Dallas an additional 15 days to process the I-485... I think people in Texas will have to wait quite some time now if that also has an extra impact on it... I hope Orlando will be faster

[Darnell 8,478]

i tried getting an infopass appointment for Houston today - and there ain't no appointments available.

But hey - I'll bet these are CBP headcounts, not USCIS. at least for now.

[NYC10065 24]

From the various articles, IO's, particularly those with "asylum" experience are being transfered as part of this emergency measure to the border so they can help process these "unaccompanied children" cases. There is nothing specific about whether is it CBP, Field Operations (Border Patrol) or USCIS so it is very unclear.

I am just worried that this is another DACA situation where because new applications or cases are suddenly being received, other work like AOS applications are pushed down the priority list and people who followed the rules are forced to wait even longer for approvals.

I contacted my attorney and was advised that there is nothing official on this as of now.

[belinda63 3,038]

As of right now these people are simply being admitted and given dates to appear before an immigration officer. They are not being turned back (at least not the children and women with children) which is what I don't understand. It seems they were coached to say they are afraid of where they live due to violence and gangs and they want to apply for asylum. The children are coming because of DACA. If they can manage to survive here long enough they become semi-legal.

They need to just close the gates and turn back everyone but how do you turn away a 14 year old child who is by themselves. Some of them are being permitted in because they have family here (who can understand why having illegal family in the US makes it ok to allow more illegals in).

Eventually they will clog the system with their DACA and asylum filings and immigration will implode. We cannot and should not be accepting all these people Especially since coming legally means having background checks and medical exams while these people could be drug lords, gang members, criminal running from charges, etc.

[Mollie09 1,543]

CBP patrols the border, and USCIS adjudicates petitions. They are two different agencies under the Department of Homeland Security.

Yes, but the border crossers are coming because they think they can get a permit to stay, they end up applying for asylum and getting court dates. Who do you think processes asylum paperwork? Hint: http://www.uscis.gov/i-589

All of this and they don't even show up to court because they don't understand it's a summons.

[Cathi 5,755]

As of right now these people are simply being admitted and given dates to appear before an immigration officer. They are not being turned back (at least not the children and women with children) which is what I don't understand. It seems they were coached to say they are afraid of where they live due to violence and gangs and they want to apply for asylum. The children are coming because of DACA. If they can manage to survive here long enough they become semi-legal.

They need to just close the gates and turn back everyone but how do you turn away a 14 year old child who is by themselves. Some of them are being permitted in because they have family here (who can understand why having illegal family in the US makes it ok to allow more illegals in).

Eventually they will clog the system with their DACA and asylum filings and immigration will implode. We cannot and should not be accepting all these people Especially since coming legally means having background checks and medical exams while these people could be drug lords, gang members, criminal running from charges, etc.

Amen

[RhettVoe 282]

wonderful....and why should the American taxpayers shell out for medical, educational and other benefits for these arriving illegals? Where is it written in some Universal Decree that American citizens are supposed to provide food, shelter, etc, for anyone and everyone who crosses our borders? And what about the umpteen thousands of people waiting outside the US to immigrate legally to this country? Why should they be held at the back of the line? Allowing all of these brats into the US with a free pass will just encourage even more to show up....and makes a mockery of our entire visa/immigration system.

[NYC10065 24]

I didn't mean to initiate this thread so we could start a debate about immigration. The latest "surge" of undocumented, unaccompanied children along the southern border only serves to highlight how broken the system is.

Virtually everyone on this forum has benefited or currently benefits from a welcoming immigration policy. But so many of us on this forum have also experienced just how complicated, sometimes inefficient, and expensive this process is.

I do not support illegal immigration and agree that illegal immigrants should never be rewarded for their actions by allowing them to skip the queue. At the same time, it would be hard to argue that the legal immigration system as it currently stands works well.

How many stories have we all heard about families waiting years (sometimes even decades) to join their loved ones who legally immigrated to the United States? Why does a straight forward application involving minor children of legal immigrants take 6 months or more to process when a medical is done before hand and the security background checks take, on average, less than 30 days? Why should an F1 student who went to school in a U.S. university, spent literally thousands of dollars to go to that school, become fully qualified with a college degree, have to go back to their home country and not be able to apply for work in the U.S.?

So many of these illegals wouldn't have to be illegal if the U.S. had a legitimate guest worker program (like so many places do) that allowed them to enter legally and do jobs that Americans don't want to do.

If illegals didn't exist, the restaurant industry, the agricultural sector and so many other services like hotel housekeeping, residential landscaping, live-in childcare, etc would simply grind to a halt.

So whether we want to acknowledge it or not, through economic booms and busts, America's economy has been configured around the availability of many of these people to do largely low skilled, low wage jobs. The bottom line is that many Americans will never do any of these jobs, most Americans would rather starve or even go on public assistance programs like food stamps or welfare rather than do these jobs -- if any one needs any proof, they just need to look at the agricultural sector where farmers imported foreign workers to do work like picking fruit in California or Washington State even during the depths of the economic crisis.

Don't people find it ironic that farmers (among other employers) in many states were asking DHS for authorization for higher and higher numbers of foreign workers at the same time as the President and Congress debated lengthening unemployment benefit qualification periods?

So farmers were looking for workers, there were a large number of unemployed Americans and legal residents, and yet Congress needed to consider whether unemployment benefits lasting up to 99 weeks in many states (that's almost 23 months or two years). Even unemployed Americans and legal residents didn't want to do these types of jobs and we wonder why there is a job market for illegals to fill.

So yes -- let's absolutely and positively do everything possible to stop illegal immigration -- illegals jumping the queue impact me personally by making the entire legal process take longer and my hard earned tax dollars should not be used to encourage illegal immigration. BUT, at the same time, Congress and the Administration should make the legal immigration process more efficient, less costly and more transparent.

Immigration and immigrants help build America and the American economy simply couldn't survive without immigrants.

Edited June 22, 2014 by NYC10065

[alicia98981 128]

I didn't mean to initiate this thread so we could start a debate about immigration. The latest "surge" of undocumented, unaccompanied children along the southern border only serves to highlight how broken the system is.

Virtually everyone on this forum has benefited or currently benefits from a welcoming immigration policy. But so many of us on this forum have also experienced just how complicated, sometimes inefficient, and expensive this process is.

I do not support illegal immigration and agree that illegal immigrants should never be rewarded for their actions by allowing them to skip the queue. At the same time, it would be hard to argue that the legal immigration system as it currently stands works well.

How many stories have we all heard about families waiting years (sometimes even decades) to join their loved ones who legally immigrated to the United States? Why does a straight forward application involving minor children of legal immigrants take 6 months or more to process when a medical is done before hand and the security background checks take, on average, less than 30 days? Why should an F1 student who went to school in a U.S. university, spent literally thousands of dollars to go to that school, become fully qualified with a college degree, have to go back to their home country and not be able to apply for work in the U.S.?

So many of these illegals wouldn't have to be illegal if the U.S. had a legitimate guest worker program (like so many places do) that allowed them to enter legally and do jobs that Americans don't want to do.

If illegals didn't exist, the restaurant industry, the agricultural sector and so many other services like hotel housekeeping, residential landscaping, live-in childcare, etc would simply grind to a halt.

So whether we want to acknowledge it or not, through economic booms and busts, America's economy has been configured around the availability of many of these people to do largely low skilled, low wage jobs. The bottom line is that many Americans will never do any of these jobs, most Americans would rather starve or even go on public assistance programs like food stamps or welfare rather than do these jobs -- if any one needs any proof, they just need to look at the agricultural sector where farmers imported foreign workers to do work like picking fruit in California or Washington State even during the depths of the economic crisis.

Don't people find it ironic that farmers (among other employers) in many states were asking DHS for authorization for higher and higher numbers of foreign workers at the same time as the President and Congress debated lengthening unemployment benefit qualification periods?

So farmers were looking for workers, there were a large number of unemployed Americans and legal residents, and yet Congress needed to consider whether unemployment benefits lasting up to 99 weeks in many states (that's almost 23 months or two years). Even unemployed Americans and legal residents didn't want to do these types of jobs and we wonder why there is a job market for illegals to fill.

So yes -- let's absolutely and positively do everything possible to stop illegal immigration -- illegals jumping the queue impact me personally by making the entire legal process take longer and my hard earned tax dollars should not be used to encourage illegal immigration. BUT, at the same time, Congress and the Administration should make the legal immigration process more efficient, less costly and more transparent.

Immigration and immigrants help build America and the American economy simply couldn't survive without immigrants.

Co sign

[Calicolom 266]

Its time to move to south america, and make that the new U.S.A. The old U.S.A. is not going to be anymore, when these children turn 18 the family flood gates will realy open, and our wellfare sytem will go broke. Thands O Bama, all by design.

[belinda63 3,038]

Actually I was just reading an article on this and it was something George W. Bush did that made it where minor children could not be deported as normal but rather they are turned over to social services. Then because the immigration courts are so slow they remain for years while they file for asylum.