From today's Washington Post. It looks like things are going from bad to worse for those of us with wives who have Green Card applications pending.
New Security Checks Swamp INS Offices
Applications Pile Up Because Workers Lack Database Access, Training
By Cheryl W. Thompson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, May 16, 2002; Page A01
The processing of thousands of immigration applications has ground to a halt in an unknown number of Immigration and Naturalization Service offices because workers have not been provided the equipment or training to use a new security database, INS officials said yesterday.
In a memo Friday, the INS ordered its workers to begin checking the names of applicants seekinggreen cards, naturalization and other documents against the Interagency Border Inspection System (IBIS). That database contains criminal information and immigration historiessupplied by the INS, the FBI, the U.S. Customs Service and other federal agencies.
But workers in some offices have been stymied because they lack the computers and know-how to accomplish the task, INS officials acknowledged yesterday. Thousands of applications already are backing up, they said.
In the New York district office, there is just one computer with IBIS access to check the more than 1,000 new applications that arrive each day. The Hartford, Conn., office has no IBIS computer, said INS spokesman William Strassberger.
"We are working to resolve this issue as soon as possible," Strassberger said. "This is implementation of a new procedure, and there are some initial start-up problems. We have to get additional equipment to those locations."
The New York office is expected to receive 12 computers today, Strassberger said. It is unclear when computers will arrive at the Hartford office.
Strassberger and other INS officials declined to say how widespread the problem is, but Marcia Needleman, chairwoman of the New York chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said immigration attorneys across the country have begun to complain about it.
"It seems to be nationwide," Needleman said. "The problem seems to be they don't have the equipment to do the clearances and the training."
Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.) said the problem is more widespread than just New York and Hartford, though he did not know how pervasive it is. He has requested a briefing on the matter by the INS next week.
"This is another example of the dysfunctionality of the INS," said Sensenbrenner, whose bill to abolish the INS and replace it with two Justice Department bureaus overwhelmingly passed the House last month. "These people [applicants] are legal aliens in this country who deserve to have a prompt . . . response."
One INS employee who handles immigration applications said, "You have applications being checked against a system we don't have access to. We can't approve anything."
"It's re-creating backlogs that we've worked three years to get rid of," he said. "It's becoming a nightmare for our office."
Janis Sposato, assistant deputy executive associate commissioner for immigration services, declined yesterday to say how many workers have not been trained to use the system or how many offices lack IBIS access. The training is done by computer, and a test is given at the end of the process, she said.
The INS for years has been criticized for backlogs and delays in processing immigrants applying for residency or citizenship.
According to the House Judiciary Committee, the agency has a total of 5 million applications pending.
In recent months, the agency sparked a new round of ire and an investigation by the Justice Department's inspector general after a string of embarrassing mistakes. In March, an INS service contractor mailed visa change approvals for two of the dead Sept. 11 hijackers, and an agency inspector's error in Norfolk allowed four Pakistani crew members to jump ship and disappear. One later was caught, another turned himself in, and two remain at large, Strassberger said.
The INS has been checking immigrants who applied for certain benefits since August 1999. In January, it ordered all applicants checked, but an unknown number of offices did not receive the equipment and training to comply. In the Friday memo, the INS repeated its order to check all applicants against IBIS.
Judith Golub, senior director of advocacy with the American Immigration Lawyers Association, called the inability to access IBIS unacceptable.
"There have to be ways to balance the need for security with the free flow of people and good," Golub said.
Angela Kelley, deputy director of the National Immigration Forum, an advocacy group for immigration, said the latest problem showed the urgent need for change. "It really does speak to the desperate need to reform the INS," she said. "There's not a week goes by that that's not confirmed for us."
