Thread: Oregon union sues over higher immigration fees

Oregon union sues over higher immigration fees
July change - Farmworkers claim a federal agency has excessively raised fees without better service
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonia ... xml&coll=7
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
ESMERALDA BERMUDEZ
The Oregonian

An Oregon labor union filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the federal agency tasked with processing immigration applications, saying it exorbitantly raised fees in July.

Woodburn-based Northwest Treeplanters and Farmworkers United, a farmworker union, filed the suit in U.S. District Court in Portland along with the Service Employees International Union, the nation's second-largest union.

The suit names U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, saying the 100 percent fee-driven agency is plagued by long-standing mismanagement. The suit says that while fees have increased, the quality of service and wait times have not improved.

"Throwing money at an agency that has a lot of internal structural problems is wasted money," said Stephen Manning, a Portland immigration lawyer involved in the lawsuit.

He said applicants should pay fair fees for fair services, not fees that are "outrageous" for services that are "sub-standard."

The suit claims the federal agency is illegally including charges in the updated fee scale that are unrelated to application processing, is charging more than it needs to cover the cost of service and has failed to openly detail the use of fees.

Officials with the federal agency declined to talk about the matter.

"We have no comment on any issues pending litigation," said spokeswoman Sharon Rummery.

Earlier this summer, Marie Sebrechts, another spokeswoman with the agency, said immigration services had become much more "user-friendly" in recent years.

A federal overhaul of the citizenship office eliminated a long-standing backlog and accelerated the process to about seven months, Sebrechts said.

Union organizers plan to challenge that in court. Recent overhauls of the system -- made possible by fee increases -- have not decreased the agency's backlog or wait times, Manning said.

He estimates that about 3.5 million applicants are on standby pending approval. Rummery said Tuesday afternoon that she was unable to immediately verify that number.

Earlier this year, the agency announced plans to increase fees by an average of 86 percent for dozens of applications, although some fees more than doubled. For example, applying for citizenship went from $330 to $675. Petitioning on behalf of an immigrant fiancee rose from $170 to $455. And petitioning for a relative jumped from $190 to $355.

During a period of public comment, nearly 4,000 people responded to the proposal.

At the time, agency director Emilio Gonzalez said: "As a fee-based agency, we must be able to recover the costs necessary to administer an efficient and secure immigration system that ultimately improves service delivery, prevents future backlogs, closes security gaps and furthers our modernization efforts. We're confident that this fee adjustment will enable the type of exceptional immigration service our nation expects and deserves."

Recent legislation in Congress threatens to dissolve the new fees.

Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a California Democrat, is proposing to invalidate the fee increases, arguing that the federal agency has not justified the need for the higher fees, has no detailed plan for modernizing and improving the agency, has suffered from a lack of transparency and stability, has repeatedly wasted money and resources, and has failed to reduce application processing backlogs.

Union members who brought the lawsuit say they did so because many of their members are immigrants who may qualify for permanent residency and citizenship and will be affected by the new fee scale.

Nationally, many who could have applied may be discouraged, said Eliseo Medina, executive vice president of the Services Employees International Union, which has about 1.9 million members.

"These people are very interested," he said. "They want to participate and become citizens."

In Oregon, concern spreads across farm fields where most of the members of the Woodburn union work. Many make an average of $9,000 annually.

Out of the union's 5,400 members, an estimated 1,000 have pending residency applications, many for families. They will end up paying the new fees once they are approved, said union president Ramon Ramirez.

"The new fees are a fortune for our members," Ramirez said. "We felt compelled to represent the interests of the community because we don't think it's fair."

Esmeralda Bermudez: 503-294-5961; ebermudez@news.oregonian.com

In Oregon, concern spreads across farm fields where most of the members of the Woodburn union work. Many make an average of $9,000 annually.

Out of the union's 5,400 members, an estimated 1,000 have pending residency applications, many for families. They will end up paying the new fees once they are approved, said union president Ramon Ramirez.

(MR. RAMON RAMIREZ): WHY IS IT THAT YOUR UNION DOES NOT NEGOTIATE A FAIR WAGE FOR YOUR MEMBERS? $9000 A YEAR? THAT IS WHY WAGES ARE SO DEPRESSED IN THIS COUNTRY.

IF YOU ARE SO CONCERNED ABOUT YOUR MEMBERS BEING ABLE TO AFFORD THE FEES, THEN JERK THOSE BOSSES AROUND AND MAKE THEM PAY AN ACCEPTABLE WAGE TO YOUR MEMBERS. WAS THAT ALL THE MONEY YOU COULD GET FOR THEM? YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED.

WHAT THE HEC KIND OF UNION WORKER GETS $9000 A YEAR. EVEN PART TIME THAT IS AWFUL.

FINALLY, IF YOUR WORKERS OR THEIR FAMILY MEMBERS ARE ILLEGAL THEY ARENT SUPPOSE TO BE HERE AT ALL.

the service workers union's pro illegal actions are undermineing American service workers. It is time for American service workers to decertify this union and find one that puts American workers 1st.

This certainly looks like a conflict of interest. The illegals are undermining the wages of the legal citizens. Yet the union appears to be looking out for the interlopers at the cost of the legal workers. Why aren't they rising up and defending themselves?

As I have pointed out in multiple occasions in other threads here, this reporter for the Oregonian:

Wednesday, August 29, 2007
ESMERALDA BERMUDEZ
The Oregonian

...will never write an article/story that is even remotely critical of illegals.
She always, yes *ALWAYS* is sympathetic to illegals and can not write an objective, truthful story on the subject. Is there one critical word of how people can arrive in such a circumstance in the first place - eg. are 'illegal' trying to 'become legal', but complaining that it costs too much....

She forgets, that is a decision (the decision to come here illegally) that those same people placed themselves into - not you, not me, not the rest of the US citizens.

The Oregonian is still a RAG!

PS. How are the layoffs going there???

"excessively raised fees without better service"

Well, isn't that what the unions are doing?

SEIU is nothing but extortionists. They have raised the dues of higher paid union members to help pay the dues of lower paid members, which consist mainly of illegal aliens.

SEIU makes back office deals with employers, but the gains are rarely realized by union members. The wages of members have remained relatively unchanged for the last five or six years.