Thread: Napolitano Testimony to Senate RE Visa Backlogs

Testimony of
The Honorable Janet Napolitano

Secretary
Department of Homeland Security
December 9, 2009

The Honorable Janet Napolitano

Secretary
United States Department of Homeland Security

Testimony on
"Oversight of the Department of Homeland Security"

Before the
United States Senate
Committee on the Judiciary

December 9, 2009


...IV. IMPROVING THE LEGAL IMMIGRATION PROCESS

America is and will always be a nation of immigrants. The immigrant story is part of our national character, and immigration remains a source of great strength for our country and our economy.

We must ensure our nation's legal immigration policies and procedures are every bit as effective as our enforcement mechanisms against illegal immigration.

Over the past year we have focused on improving the systems that provide benefits and services to legal immigrants who live or work in the United States to make these systems more effective, responsive, and fair.

For example, working with the FBI, we ended the backlog for background checks on applicants for green cards and naturalization. We also expanded the opportunity for widows to gain legal status in the United States following the untimely death of their U.S. citizen spouses.

We also have launched a new interactive website at USCIS that allows people to receive information about the status of their immigration cases by e-mail or text message, and we have reduced the time it takes to process those cases. Content on the website also has been rewritten into clear, accessible language that meets the informational needs of legal immigrants and, for the first time ever, is available in Spanish.

Since August 2009, USCIS also has led a national education and outreach initiative to raise public awareness about the naturalization process and provide education on the rights and responsibilities of U.S. citizenship. To date, USCIS has held over 40 naturalization information sessions that have drawn nearly 4,000 participants. As part of its Citizenship Grant Program, USCIS also is providing $1.2 million in competitive grants to support citizenship preparation programs for legal permanent residents. And in October, USCIS fully implemented its new Naturalization Test, which emphasizes fundamental concepts of democracy, U.S. history, and the rights and responsibilities of citizenship.

Additionally, through the expanded use of biometrics, USCIS is now better able to identify people committing immigration fraud, either by using someone else's documents or by forging documents to escape detection for a past crime or immigration violation. And we have enhanced our capacity to exclude those suspected of supporting terrorism or other serious international crimes before they enter our country.
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Full Testimony
http://judiciary.senate.gov/hearings/te ... it_id=8358

US speeds visa process for researchers

09 June 2009

The US government has implemented changes to its visa system that are expected to make it dramatically easier for foreign researchers and graduate students to enter the country to work or attend scientific conferences.

The State Department has hired additional staff in Washington, DC to process visa applications from individuals whose advanced scientific and technical backgrounds raise red flags from a national security or technology transfer perspective. The agency anticipates that extra staff, together with 'procedural modifications' made in early June, will allow foreign science and technology professionals who apply for US visas to receive approval within two weeks.

'We found that the processing times of these visas were increasing, and over the last year had increased to a point that made us concerned,' State Department spokesman Andy Laine tells Chemistry World. 'These delays were creating an obstacle to the legitimate sharing of scientific information.'

US science advocacy groups like the National Academies and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) are hailing the developments as a victory. They have complained for years that foreign scientists, engineers, and students involved in scientific disciplines face a visa application backlog that harms the nation's research enterprise. Roughly one-third of all US Nobel laureates in science are born outside the US.

The State Department says 8.7 million people applied for a non-immigrant US visa from October 2007 to September 2008; 56,000 of those were subject to an extra layer of review in Washington because of the applicant's scientific background.

http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/News/ ... 060903.asp

Our government under the Obama and Napolitano leadership has given terrorists a speed pass to the US.

Abdulmutallab received a degree in engineering and business finance from University College London.

Did he get a fast track visa to blow up a plane? When did Abdulmutallab get his visa?

Dixie

Department Tackles Visa Delay for Researchers

By CORNELIA DEAN
Published: June 2, 2009

After months of complaints by university groups and scientific organizations, the State Department is acting to speed up the delay-plagued visa process for foreign graduate students and post-doctoral researchers, an official said Tuesday.

The official, David Donahue, the deputy assistant secretary of state for consular services, said the department started attacking the backlog of requests on Friday. “I am not sure when we will get all of them cleared up,â€

Originally Posted by Dixie

For example, working with the FBI, we ended the backlog for background checks on applicants for green cards and naturalization. We also expanded the opportunity for widows to gain legal status in the United States following the untimely death of their U.S. citizen spouses.

How did you end the backlog for background checks? Just look the other way? Seems that is what happened when Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was given a US visa.

The State Department says 8.7 million people applied for a non-immigrant US visa from October 2007 to September 2008; 56,000 of those were subject to an extra layer of review in Washington because of the applicant's scientific background.

8.7 million????????

Originally Posted by bigtex

Originally Posted by Dixie

For example, working with the FBI, we ended the backlog for background checks on applicants for green cards and naturalization. We also expanded the opportunity for widows to gain legal status in the United States following the untimely death of their U.S. citizen spouses.

How did you end the backlog for background checks? Just look the other way? Seems that is what happened when Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was given a US visa.

I personally believe there is ALOT of looking the other way going on!

We should no longer allow Muslems from England, to enter the States.
Unless they have a full back ground check.
Are you listening Janet.

Calls and emails needed here!

http://www.alipac.us/ftopicp-998864.html#998864