Article 2004-2-22
Highlights and Lowlights of 2003, Part I
Looking back to 2003, we can begin to assess many of the more important
immigration related events and non-events which had important effects
or will have importance in the future in the field of immigration.
Unfortunately most of them were negative on alien rights, although
some give hope for a brighter tomorrow.
The most important of course was the splitting of the INS into
three separate divisions under the Department of Homeland Security
(DHS) on March 1, 2003 - "CIS" (Citizenship and Immigration
Services), "ICE" (Immigration and Customs Enforcement),
and "CBP" (Customs and Border Protection). It is unfair
to judge the changeover on the basis of nine months of operation,
and so the grade that we assign it is an "I" for "Incomplete".
Most people in the past had pointed out a basic conflict in the
INS ' dual missions to give benefits as well as enforce the law
with its personnel flip-flopping from one side to the other, and
had urged the change. However, the adjudicative branch, CIS, is
still reliant upon former INS personnel and it will take time to
develop a new culture attuned more to customer benefit than enforcement.
Additionally there have been and will continue to be problems of
coordination among the three divisions. In a highly publicized case
last year, a college student taking a trip to Mexico was denied
reentry and thrown in jail because CBP did not have proof of his
permanent residence status and failed to confirm his status with
CIS immediately. Other examples currently are the recent reluctance
(now in the process of cure) of the CIS to correct errors made on
I-94 entry-exit forms by CBP inspectors at the borders and airports,
and CBP's position that CIS delays in issuing reentry permits (currently
processing applications filed 8/26/02 as of 1/7/04) are CIS issues
and the mere filing of an application and the presentation of its
receipt upon reentry are no indication that it would be approved.
Finally in 2004 CIS officers will be able to adjudicate cases without
reference to the zero tolerance policy which had been in effect
since March 2002 and was only recently rescinded in September 2003.
During that period, many INS officers were required to sign a document
that their jobs were on the line if they made a mistake, and the
Acting Director of CIS for the Central Region was quoted as saying
that DHS personnel would not get into trouble for late decisions,
but faced "great problems" if they missed any of the required
security clearances.
The National Security Entry/Exit Registration System (NSEERS),
also known as Special Registration, had two components - call-in
and port of entry registration, of which the former was one of the
most awful initiatives of the Administration and rates an emphatic
"F". By clumsily handling a delicate situation requiring
the utmost tact in processing those individuals (males 16 and over
from 25 countries, mostly from the Middle East) deemed necessary
to interview for terrorist ties, the Administration managed to alienate
entire immigrant communities and subject the U.S. to extensive criticism
overseas. The fruits of its registration efforts from September
2002 to September 2003 after 290,526 registrations (83,519 call-ins
and 207,007 port of entries) was a government statement that 11
had links to terrorism--even though none were charged with terrorism
grounds of inadmissibility or removability. However, the Administration
also used this program to detain, terrorize and humiliate many individuals
and their families and even now proudly states that 13,799 of these
registrants were put into removal proceedings. Finally in the face
of heavy criticism, the Administration on December 2, 2003, without
acknowledging its failure suspended the program's requirement that
aliens register again after 30 days and one year of continuous presence
in the U.S. Now annual registration will be required only on a case
by case basis when individuals are called in by ICE.
The CIS initiative to create the National Customer Service Center
(NCSC) rates another "F". Put on-line June 1, 2003, it
interposed another layer of bureaucracy between applicants and service
center personnel who could actually answer their specific inquiries.
The NCSC line (1-800-375-5283) only allows contact with contractors
(not CIS) who read from scripts and can do nothing to assist in
specific questions except to refer the matter forward to the appropriate
service center after wasting the applicant's time. Only after 3
referrals can the inquirer speak with a CIS representative. Although
its period of existence has been short, the grade is deserved as
its very concept goes against customer service improvement.
A bright spot for the CIS was its rolling out the "Case Status
Online" computerized system which allows applicants with receipt
numbers to check the status of their cases at the service centers.
Although begun in late 2002, it became very popular in 2003. The
grade to be assigned is a "B", as I-751 removal of conditional
residence based on marriage and I-829 removal of conditional residence
based upon investment applications are still not in the system and
many older N-400 naturalization cases are not posted. In addition,
at present, it does not cover applications which have been filed
to local district offices of CIS (except those which have been transferred
to the National Benefits Center in Missouri for pre-processing);
nor can it currently check the status of a case once it has been
transferred from a service center. The system can be accessed through
"https://egov.immigration.gov/graphics/cris/jsps/caseStat.jsp"
or through our website at "www.AlanLeeLaw.com".
The National Benefits Center (NBC) rates an "I" as its
main purpose only began in the second half of 2003 - taking over
the preprocessing of all family based cases from local CIS district
offices including entirely handling employment authorization and
advance parole applications. The CIS plans to rollout its family
based application centralization process after notice in the Federal
Register (which was expected in 2003 but never came), starting with
the Pacific Northwest and then moving clockwise across the country
phasing in each region every 60 days. In addition to family based
I-485 adjustment of status to permanent residence applications,
it will accept diversity visa (visa lottery) cases and later phase
in acceptance of N-400 naturalization applications. The NBC holds
great promise to alleviate backlogs in local district office processing
and stress on individuals as it will allow applicants to track their
cases on the CIS "Case Status Online" system.
Another electronic initiative by the CIS beginning May 29, 2003,
filing applications online, met with limited appreciation as the
filings were confined to I-765 employment authorization and I-90
permanent residence replacement card applications. At this time,
electronic filing instead of current paper filing of forms and documents
receives an "I".
With the largest generation of Americans (the Baby Boomers) nearing
retirement age, one would assume that every effort would be made
to provide adequate numbers of registered nurses to meet the demand.
(In one forecast, the United States will require 1 million more
registered nurses in the next five years alone.) However, it seems
that the opposite is true. CIS announced in July 2003 that beginning
July 26, 2004, it would enforce the requirement that all foreign
nurses must present visa screen certificates before being allowed
to work temporarily in the United States as nurses. Although there
are genuine concerns in this country over nursing qualifications,
foreign nurses already have to pass a battery of tests to become
nurses here. Unless something is done now, many Americans in the
future will receive no nursing care and nursing salaries will soon
spiral out of proportion to those of other occupations. The Visa
Screen enforcement action for 2004 rates a "C-".
Giving service centers the ability to issue notices to appear (NTAs)
as of October 1, 2003, rates an incomplete ("I"). An NTA
is a notice to individuals that they are under removal proceedings
and must appear in an immigration court to answer charges that they
are removable. It is too soon to know how service centers will wield
their new-found power. Will they be judicious and sparing in exercising
their authority, or will they issue NTAs in the future for all denied
applications, or for that matter, all approved applications for
which priority dates for immigration are not current? (Until about
20 years ago, INS had for a long time issued notices to individuals
to appear at the local INS offices for interviews with the deportation
branch when INS approved I-130 visa petitions without current priority
dates.) Although CIS has stated that the service centers would focus
on aggravated felons, public safety/national security threats or
fraud schemes, it also said that it could issue NTAs to anyone.
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