Thread: New immigration chief says U.S. to be ready for guest worker

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/met ... 13182.html

March 9, 2006, 5:59PM

New immigration chief says U.S. to be ready for guest workers
By ANABELLE GARAY
Associated Press

DALLAS — The new director of the nation's immigration service said Thursday that the agency should get through a backlog of immigrant petitions in time to handle a guest worker program if it is approved.

"We hope to have, quite frankly, the backlog taken care of before we inherit another program," said U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Emilio Gonzalez said during a teleconference.

The Senate Judiciary Committee has been debating a guest worker program that would give temporary worker status to immigrants.

But that would greatly increase the workload of the agency already facing a backlog that has left some immigrants waiting up to 2 1/2 years for citizenship or "green cards" providing permanent residence status.

The Bush administration has set an Oct. 1 deadline for the backlog to be eliminated by the agency, which processes applications for citizenship, permanent residence, work permits and other immigration documents.

To prepare for the possibility of a guest worker program, officials have been looking at facilities, staffing, and outsourcing, something the agency currently does with immigrant fingerprinting and photographing.

"We are as prepared as we can be now, considering there is no bill," Gonzalez said.

Changes under way at Citizenship and Immigration Services will accelerate its processing time, Gonzalez said. The agency is moving toward paperless system by establishing electronic accounts for applicants and working to create new forms to improve cross referencing.

CIS also plans to continue expanding fast-paced processing programs like one in Dallas, where immigrants seeking "green cards" are screened in person and their cases are typically resolved within months.

The El Paso field office is likely to house one of the programs, since it doesn't have a backlog, Gonzalez said.

Since Gonzalez took over Jan. 4 after being confirmed in December, he has put a priority on eliminating the backlog, preparing for a temporary worker program and examining the budget.

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On the Net:

Department of Homeland Security: http://www.dhs.gov

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services: http://uscis.gov

Hey jerk what part of NO do you not understand.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Emilio Gonzalez

This is a blatant start of ANOTHER attempt to undermine the American people, just like the ports deal was.

They have so much answering to do. WHO'S going to pay for their health insurance, life insurance, worker compensation cases, and there are so many more questions George Bush has failed to answer for US.

HOW will WE KNOW that they tried to hire Americans, with all the other corruption going on in Medicaid and other agencies, we have no reason to TRUST them on this.

Go back to bed, Emilio.

LegalUSCitizen said:

Go back to bed, Emilio.

Right On Sister!!

All I could add is:

"and sleep well, Emilio, we'll wake you when it's over".

The Bush administration has set an Oct. 1 deadline for the backlog to be eliminated by the agency, which processes applications for citizenship, permanent residence, work permits and other immigration documents.

OCTOBER 1?? And I guess that means that the 2 1/2 year backlog is just going to be one rush job that doesn't even bother to SCREEN the applicants, just lets them have work permits or whatever else they want.

To prepare for the possibility of a guest worker program, officials have been looking at facilities, staffing, and outsourcing, something the agency currently does with immigrant fingerprinting and photographing

OUTSOURCING?????? For the fifth time today, I must say, Well, I'll be dipped in horse manure! What in the hell is wrong with these people. Are they trying to antoagonize us until we explode?

Our local news station had a thing on last night where they are building a US consulate in Juarez (sister city to El Paso across the Mexican border) so that they can process applicants for guest worker status faster!