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DHS
OMBUDSMAN SPELLS OUT PLANS FOR KINDER, MORE EFFICIENT IMMIGRATION
SERVICE
by Michael J. Gurfinkel, Esq.
At a recent American Immigration Lawyers Association meeting,
the guest speaker was Prakash Khatri, the newly appointed Ombudsman
(problem solver) of the Citizenship and Immigration Service (CIS).
He is a very high ranking official in the Department of Homeland
Security (DHS), and is just two levels below Tom Ridge (who is
the head of DHS). What he had to say, and his plans and visions
for reorganizing CIS should be of vital interest to all immigrants.
This is because “he has the power and authority to make
things happen”.
Mr. Khatri is the child of immigrants, so he knows
the sacrifices that immigrants go through to achieve the “American
Dream”. He is grateful for the opportunities that America
gave his family, and knows that other immigrant families simply
want a chance for those same opportunities.
Before joining DHS, he was an immigration attorney,
and proud member of AILA. He had a very successful immigration
practice and most recently, managing Disney’s Immigration
Department in Orlando, Florida. But he gave all that up, in order
to accept the job of Ombudsman. That shows how much dedication
and commitment he has to this job. Being an Immigration Attorney
himself, he also had direct, hands-on experience in dealing with
clients and is well aware of aliens’ hopes, dreams and aspirations,
as well as their frustrations and suffering in trying to get legal.
As part of his functions as Ombudsman under the
Homeland Security Act, he is to make an annual report to Congress,
that spells out the problems or issues that were not solved, the
name of the specific officer at CIS who did not solve it,
and why that officer did not solve it. This is a very important
function, as CIS officers, whether inside or outside the U.S.,
will be more responsive, since they would not want to have their
name in his report to Congress, showing that they did not, or
could not, solve a particular problem (or they were, in fact,
the cause of the problem).
Mr. Khatri is committed to reducing backlogs, and
making CIS more efficient and responsive to immigrants, whom he
views as “customers” who are entitled to good service.
Right now, there are millions of petitions and applications that
are backlogged. According to his study, almost 75% of the backlog
is for family and employment based petitions and adjustment of
status. On closer examination, he noted that some cases were filed
just so the alien could get a work permit, even though they weren’t
really eligible for the immigration benefit. Then when the interview
came about years later, they kept trying to postpone it, just
so they could keep renewing the work authorization. In other words,
bogus or fraudulent cases were being filed, and the aliens were
trying to buy time, just to have a work permit.
In order to avoid backlogs, and reduce fraudulent
filings of adjustment applications, Mr. Khatri is proposing a
revolutionary approach to processing cases: interview the aliens
on the same day they file their
case, rather than years later, as is done at the present time.
With a same day interview, CIS could quickly screen the cases
to see if they are bona fide, and could issue the green card in
about 60 days from filing, which is the time it takes to complete
the security checks. Can you imagine getting a green card two
months after you file for adjustment?! Let’s hope that will
soon become a reality, instead of only a proposal.
In other words, he proposes to turn the process
on its head, with the interview up front. This would dramatically
reduce fraud (because there would be no fraudulent filings to
buy time for work permits, no fake ADIT (green card) stamps in
people’s passports, etc.) In addition, it would greatly
reduce the number of hours CIS officers would have to spend on
a file, from about 6-7 hours per file, to only one hour. Right
now, officers spend upwards of 6-7 hours on each file, taking
into account pulling the file and reviewing it each time a person
renews his work permit, or makes an inquiry, etc. With the adjustment
interview up front, this would reduce or eliminate the need for
pulling and reviewing the file so many times.
Mr. Khatri is not afraid to “think outside
the box”, meaning he is willing to approach problems with
new and innovative solutions, and does not feel the need to do
things the way they have always been done, if there is a better
way.
When I spoke with him after his speech, I wished
him luck on his proposals, but noted that he may get a lot of
resistance from CIS, because people within CIS might argue, “But
this is the way we’ve always done it”. Mr. Khatri
replied, “Whenever I hear that excuse as a justification
for keeping things as they are, I believe we need change all the
more. To keep doing something just because it had been done that
way in the past is not a good enough reason”.
I think we should all offer our support and best
wishes to the Ombudsman. Being in charge of reforms and problem
solving at CIS is a very challenging task. But immigrants should
now have a lot to hope for, because they have an Ombudsman who
has remarkable plans and visions for a kinder, more responsive,
and efficient CIS, and most important, he has a kind and warm
heart for immigrants.
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