A Note from the Editors:

The House Subcommittee on Immigration and Claims held an oversight hearing on "The INS’s March 2002 Notification of Approval of Change of Status for Pilot Training for Terrorist Hijackers Mohammed Atta and Marwan Al-Shehhi,” with testimony from Rudi Dekkers, Tom Blodgett, James Ziglar, and Michael Cutler. Rudi Dekkers is the CEO and President of Huffman where Mohammed Atta and Marwan Al-Shehhi took flying lessons. He stated that he was relieved, but not surprised when I-20s arrived from the INS more than a year after the terrorists had left the school and more than six months their deaths. He knew it usually takes a long time for paperwork to be returned, and was relieved because he could prove that his company had carried out the proper procedures. Thomas Blodgett is an officer of Affiliated Computer Services, Inc., (ACS) which performs high-volume transaction processing for the microfilming , data entry, and storage of multiple INS forms including I-94 and I-20 forms. According to Mr. Blodgett ACS was instructed to mail certain I-20 forms to the form originators. ACS received no requests from INS to pull any documents related to Atta or Al-Shehhi, and as INS's processor is required to treat all documents as confidential to the INS. INS Commissioner Ziglar described the incident of the return of the I-20s as a prefect example of the system that existed when he arrived at the INS, and outlined eleven initiatives the INS has undertaken to enhance security since September 11. Michael Cutler is an INS Senior Special Agent, who worked closely with other agencies to investigate, apprehend, and persecute aliens who are involved in narcotics trafficking and related crimes. He stated that the INS appears to have created an unwieldy system to carry out the adjudications of applications and that besides displaying ineptitude, this failure by the INS calls into question the procedures that the adjudicators follow." Sometimes a picture is more effective than words in summarizing a situation as with Thomas Nast's 1871 cartoon "Who Stole the People's Money."

Articles

Buchanan Misses The Mark: Latest Anti-Immigrant Book Doesn't Ring True
A book review by American Immigration Law Foundation (AILF) contributing editor Jim Champagne concludes that Pat Buchanan's book The Death of the West "is a story based on unreasonable fear wrapped cleverly, albeit not neatly, in America's flag, proving that the author was indeed wrong from the start."

What's wrong with the INS?
An article on CNN tries to enumerate the problems with the INS.

Amnesty International Alleges Violations of International Law in U.S. Detention of Immigrants after 9/11
Carl R. Baldwin writes that Amnesty International alleges serious violations of international law in the conditions to which immigrant detainees have been subjected in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Proposed Amnesty Program Could Disappoint Immigrants
The San Jose Mercury News reports that House extension of 245(i) would give President Bush a platform to tout his pro-immigration credentials when he meets with Mexican President Vicente Fox next week, but in an effort to avoid the rush to the altar that swept the country when the same program was in effect last year, the bill requires immigrants to prove they were married or sponsored by a US employer before August 15, 2001, in order to qualify.

Bring Back 245(i): Is There A Better Way?
Gary Endelman writes that the restoration of 245(i) has much to commend it, but it is a symptom of a system that lacks the flexibility to achieve easily understood objectives in a consistent and effective manner while giving due respect to individual facts and special circumstances.

Change in Automatic Visa Revalidation Creates Risk for Third Country Nationals Traveling to a US Consulate in Canada or Mexico to Apply for a Visa
George N. Lester writes about the recent changes in the regulations regarding automatic revalidation of visas.

The Way Forward on Immigration Policy
The National Immigration Forum presents its goals for immigration policy in 2002.

INS May Limit Visitors To 30 Days in the U.S.
The Washington Post reports that the INS is considering limiting visitors to 30-day stays -- instead of the current six months.

ILW Highlights

Immigration Information

How can I be admitted to the United States?
What are the eligibility requirements for getting a Permanent Resident Card?
How can I qualify for a visa waiver?

Find answers to the above and many more questions in the Visainfo section.

Letters to Editor

To write to Editors, send emails to weeklyeditor@ilw.com.

Dear Editor:

Mr. (or Ms.) Sushil Babu's letter of March 15 has not added anything new to the debate on 245(i), but has simply repeated the same criticisms that many restrictionists have propounded for years. As an immigration practitioner, I can assure the writer that I do not 'condone' illegal activity, but it is one thing to overstay or otherwise violate a non-immigrant visa (which happens inadvertently to many individuals who are not schooled in the intricacies of I-94s, extension requests, underlying visa terms, etc.) and another entirely to say, as did Mr. Connor Robertson, that they are of a lesser quality than those who 'wait patiently' to process abroad.
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[To read the whole letter, click here].
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Respectfully,
Christine Flowers

Dear Editor:

"Yesterday, I was waiting in a line at the supermarket five people deep. Some dude showed up and went to the front of the line. The clerk told the guy that even though he had jumped the line, if he tipped her a dollar, she would let him get away with cutting. Before I got to the cashier nine more people pulled this same trick. After finally checking out, I realized, I should have just went to the head of line, laid my dollar down, and got of the store a young man."

Every day I talk with clients who entered this country "without inspection" even though they had approved visa petitions. These individuals decided waiting for an available priority date was to much of a hassle. Thanks to 245(i), there is a strong incentive pulling these line jumpers to the United States. Why wait overseas when you can just show up. I admire those individuals who have enough respect for the rule of law that they would prefer years of waiting over entering this country illegally. I believe that as a generalization those people who follow the letter of law, as opposed to picking and choosing which laws they wish to follow, are more likely to be law abiding citizens. We know that every single person that entered this country "without inspection," by definition, violated the law to some degree. This is not so with people who enter this country through consular processing. Knowing that every EWI began their life in this country as a law breaker, how much logic do you have to use to predict which group is more or less likely to follow the laws later on. I say that instead spending our finite resources on rewarding people who do not want to follow the rules, we should help out those people waiting for consular processing by expediting their already tremendously long waits. Why give preferred service to cheaters? 245(i) undermines the State Department's system of priority visas.

Connor Robertson

Immigrant Life

Do you think the recent event of September 11th terrorists having finally received their student visas, will bring improvements in INS?

This week's chat schedule

When Attorney Monday, March 25 9:00 pm Eastern Time Alice Yardum-Hunter, Esq. Wednesday, March 27 9:00 pm Eastern Time Barry Lieber, Esq.

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