Biometrics ASC Openings

[ourwildjourney 103]

I hope everyone is safe and distancing with loved ones  . 

I posted a question last week specifically about ASC openings for biometrics.  Please stay on topic and not overly political if you respond.  The discussion got heated and way off topic, so the question never was answered. 

 

My question is who can decide when to open specific ASC offices?  The Federal government or the State level?  (I foresaw there being a Federal (Republican) vs. State (Democrat) showdown in states like CA, WA, NYC, etc. and now am wondering even more how it will play out.

 

Without getting political, my original question remains:  Is it possible for one State to open it's ASC offices for biometrics before other States?  Or is that something that is mandated at the Federal level?

 

For example, if the Federal government says "open ASC" and Nebraska wants to but Illinois doesn't, can the States decide?  

Or CA vs AZ . Or FL vs GA, etc.  The specifics don't matter.  

 

Hypothetically, if Trump still wants to hit an aspirational Easter date to open businesses and says to open ASCs, would Gavin Newsome or Jay Inslee have to listen?  Or could each state actually be different on what offices open and when? 

 

Is anyone locally hearing their ASC offices MIGHT open?  

 

Stay safe and thank you!

[Nitas_man 3,100]

Those are Federal offices and the Federal government makes the decision as to whether they be opened or closed.

[Crazy Cat 41,884]

1.  USCIS (Federal) controls when USCIS offices are open or closed to the public.  

2.  Local governments control "stay at home" orders for citizens.  Only essential business can take place in the lockdown orders I am familiar with.

 

BTW:  President Trump said he HOPES businesses can reopen by Easter.....

[ourwildjourney 103]

5 minutes ago, Lucky Cat said:

1.  USCIS (Federal) controls when USCIS offices are open or closed to the public.  

2.  Local governments control "stay at home" orders for citizens.  Only essential business can take place in the lockdown orders I am familiar with.

 

BTW:  President Trump said he HOPES businesses can reopen by Easter.....

Thanks!  So the Federal gov’t could say they all must open, but a particular State could say “not in this State at this time because fingerprints are not “essential”?

[ourwildjourney 103]

3 hours ago, Nitas_man said:

Those are Federal offices and the Federal government makes the decision as to whether they be opened or closed.

Thanks!  And then, considering the nuance to this from @luckycat, the States could additionally decide they are "not essential" -- even if the Federal government opens them? 

[Nitas_man 3,100]

42 minutes ago, ourwildjourney said:

Thanks!  And then, considering the nuance to this from @luckycat, the States could additionally decide they are "not essential" -- even if the Federal government opens them? 

The states do not have any authority to decide what federal offices are or are not essential.

 

With that said I highly doubt that fingerprinting and interviewing will commence before the rest of the community can play outside again.  

 

[ourwildjourney 103]

33 minutes ago, Nitas_man said:

The states do not have any authority to decide what federal offices are or are not essential.

 

With that said I highly doubt that fingerprinting and interviewing will commence before the rest of the community can play outside again.  

 

Exactly. That’s what I was wondering. If the Feds say to open and CA can’t play outside but Arizona can (for example), would AZ offices actually be accessible earlier?  
 

[payxibka 10,045]

4 minutes ago, ourwildjourney said:

Exactly. That’s what I was wondering. If the Feds say to open and CA can’t play outside but Arizona can (for example), would AZ offices actually be accessible earlier?  
 

Biometrics only need be done by the time the application hits an adjudicators desk.  You have a couple months to see how this plays out before things get more critical 

[ourwildjourney 103]

1 minute ago, payxibka said:

Biometrics only need be done by the time the application hits an adjudicators desk.  You have a couple months to see how this plays out before things get more critical 

Oooh that is great news. I thought biometrics were the first piece needed for them to even start working on the case at all.

[payxibka 10,045]

1 minute ago, ourwildjourney said:

Oooh that is great news. I thought biometrics were the first piece needed for them to even start working on the case at all.

It took 108 days for my wife's biometrics,  didn't slow us down one bit

[ourwildjourney 103]

10 minutes ago, payxibka said:

It took 108 days for my wife's biometrics,  didn't slow us down one bit

Wow. That is awesome.  I have only heard that biometrics is the very first step and nothing is even started until that step. That would be amazing!!

 

Thanks!

[Nitas_man 3,100]

1 hour ago, ourwildjourney said:

Exactly. That’s what I was wondering. If the Feds say to open and CA can’t play outside but Arizona can (for example), would AZ offices actually be accessible earlier?  
 

 If you have a letter scheduling an appointment for a time at a specific office in Az that might qualify as an essential trip.  Crossing a state line from an impacted area might earn a quarantine.  Nothing personal but we are going to cheerfully re-elect the Texas officials who lock down travelers from New York, New Jersey, Ct, and New Orleans and we asked for Washington and California as well.  The first 4 are going straight to a 14-day quarantine before they move around our communities.

 

 

Edited March 29, 2020 by Nitas_man

[ourwildjourney 103]

15 minutes ago, Nitas_man said:

 If you have a letter scheduling an appointment for a time at a specific office in Az that might qualify as an essential trip.  Crossing a state line from an impacted area might earn a quarantine.  Nothing personal but we are going to cheerfully re-elect the Texas officials who lock down travelers from New York, New Jersey, Ct, and New Orleans and we asked for Washington and California as well.  The first 4 are going straight to a 14-day quarantine before they move around our communities.

 

 

That’s the spirit of what I was saying. I would look for States to decide what is open or not. Even if the Feds say to open it all up. If you look at the original post, I’m not asking about driving to other offices. Rather asking if it’s an “all or nothing”. Either all are open or none are open. My guess is that it will not look like that and States will all look a bit different. It’s more me being curios about Feds vs States. (I live in CA but am with family in Utah so It’s not about specifics). 
 

(The idea of whether a State can quarantine another State is beyond the scope of my question but will be very interesting to see play out, nonetheless.)

[Nitas_man 3,100]

1 minute ago, ourwildjourney said:

That’s the spirit of what I was saying. I would look for States to decide what is open or not. Even if the Feds say to open it all up. If you look at the original post, I’m not asking about driving to other offices. Rather asking if it’s an “all or nothing”. Either all are open or none are open. My guess is that it will not look like that and States will all look a bit different. It’s more me being curios about Feds vs States. (I live in CA but am with family in Utah so It’s not about specifics). 
 

(The idea of whether a State can quarantine another State is beyond the scope of my question but will be very interesting to see play out, nonetheless.)

The USCIS webpage says all offices closed until the 7th and check back in after that.
 

Note:  We’re already putting travelers from those areas in mandatory quarantine.  

 

[ourwildjourney 103]

2 minutes ago, Nitas_man said:

The USCIS webpage says all offices closed until the 7th and check back in after that.
 

Note:  We’re already putting travelers from those areas in mandatory quarantine.  

 

Exactly. That’s really my question. Do they either all open on the 7th or none open on the 7th. Or will it vary state to state?  If the Fed says “open up the ASC offices” could individual states say “Nope” or do they have to?  Maybe we stay safe in Utah for several more weeks and see if Utah opens before heading back to CA which has more cases anyway.