Thread: Utah Immigration Services Improving

http://www.deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,12 ... 76,00.html

Utah immigration services improving

Texas native heads agency for 3 states, focusing on benefits, security
By Deborah Bulkeley
Deseret Morning News
July 4, 2005

Mario Ortiz says an overseas assignment has helped shape his leadership of the Denver district of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
Mario Ortiz
Ortiz was appointed to head the office, which oversees Colorado, Utah and Wyoming, in January 2004. He said CIS is focused on benefits and customer service, in addition to homeland security.
Before that, Ortiz served as the immigration attache in the American Embassy in Singapore, overseeing immigration matters in a five-country area. During that time, he interviewed potential refugees for resettlement.
Ortiz, a Texas native, said "when you grow up as a Texan, you feel like the world revolves around the state of Texas. . . . Until we as Americans are able to live overseas and become a foreigner in someone else's country, we can't learn to understand the challenges of learning a new language or being in a new culture.
"My grandfather was a naturalized citizen" from Mexico, he said. "Seeing that naturalization certificate on the wall, what an honor it was for me to be able to live overseas and gain that type of insight, and to know and appreciate every single day that the piece of paper I hand over is the same piece of paper my grandfather had."
His office's most common duties regard naturalization and permanent residence. In the past fiscal year, about 3,200 new citizens were naturalized in Utah, said Allan Speirs, officer-in-charge of the CIS Salt Lake sub-office.
In Utah, the top nations of origin for new citizens were Mexico, Bosnia, Vietnam, Canada and China, Speirs said. He noted that two-thirds of new citizens are from countries other than those in Latin America.
CIS is a new agency, which used to be known as Immigration and Naturalization Services. After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the agency was reorganized and placed under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The enforcement end of the former INS is now a separate agency.
Speirs, who has worked in immigration since 1971, described the split as "exciting times," since now he can focus more on customer service. Over the past year and a half, his office has gone from four to nine adjudicators.
"We're able to concentrate on our job, on giving the right decisions to the right people at the right time," he said. "We don't want fraud and we don't want people to be in the U.S. if they have national security or criminal background problems. . . .
"It's nice to finally be getting enough personnel to really do the job we've wanted to do all along," Speirs said.
Some of the new initiatives, since the creation of CIS, include:

• An online scheduling system, InfoPass at www.uscis.gov, was created last fall to alleviate notoriously long lines of people waiting to meet with immigration officers. It's available in 12 languages.

• The naturalization process has been cut to an average 6 1/2 months in Utah and 4 1/2 months in Colorado. The process used to take a year and a half.

• The agency recently released "Welcome to the United States: A Guide for New Immigrants," available online in English, Spanish, Chinese and Vietnamese and soon to be available in more languages.

• A new biometric system has shortened the wait for a permanent residence card to weeks. New permanent residents formerly needed to use their temporary proof of permanent residence for a year or longer.
Ortiz said he's also focusing on breaking naturalization ceremonies out of the courtroom. A recent naturalization ceremony in Denver was held at the University of Colorado's downtown campus; and a recent Salt Lake ceremony was at the Salt Palace. It was held during the American Immigration Lawyer's Association annual conference. Twenty-five people will took the oath of citizenship during Saturday's Freedom Blast at Rice-Eccles Stadium.
"It's all about encouraging and promoting citizenship," he said. "Americans in general need to witness the beauty and power of the emotion behind becoming a U.S. citizen."
Speirs also has started occasionally traveling out of Salt Lake, answering questions at community meetings. Most recently he met in Centerfield, Sanpete County, with representatives of the state Office of Ethnic Affairs.
Lina Smith, director of the Utah Refugee Employment and Community center at the Asian Association, said when she has a problem with a case, Speirs immediately responds, even if the results aren't what a client wants.
"I know a lot of the time their hands are tied," she said. "I know it's hard for people, especially from the Middle East, to get their paperwork completed, and approved. . . . A lot of people have waited more than three years to get their green cards."
Speirs said the background checks are done by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and do tend to take longer for people from the Middle East. He said CIS volunteers are helping the FBI to try to speed the process.
On Friday, those waiting for appointments said they've seen improvements in CIS. Most notably, scheduled appointments.
Edwin and Lorna Marin of Logan remember waiting hours. On Friday, they only had to wait a few minutes for Lorna Marin's appointment.
Edwin Marin recalled that when he went through the naturalization process 10 years ago, "you could never get a phone number to ask questions. Now there's a 1-800 number."
He's also noticed a friendlier attitude, even on the phone, noting "I used to be scared of them."
Warde Allan of St. George agreed that it was nice to be able to schedule an appointment in advance, but he said it would be more convenient if the office were tied to Las Vegas, which is three hours closer to St. George. He added that he had had trouble connecting with a live operator at the 1-800 number.
However, Allan, who flew to Salt Lake for his appointment, noted he had been able to schedule it just one day earlier. Only a few people were waiting in a room, he said. It used to be so crowded the wait time was between four and five hours.
"I think that is quite a bit better," he said. Formerly, "You had to get here by a certain time. . . . There were so many people waiting you had get here early in the morning."



E-mail: dbulkeley@desnews.com

Oh swell...we've improved "xustomer service". WHO authorized this? Our Congress? The Maniac in the White House?

Just what we need to do with our tax dollars...spend more making it easier to float into the US Legally in Greater Numbers when we don't have enough jobs that pay enough for anyone at the present time because of the VOLUME of illegal immigrants taking everything from everybody including Legal Immigrants.

What a bunch of misplaced priorities.

You did note too the use of a "biometric card"....WOW...that was fast...did we authorize THAT? Please tell me WE DID NOT AUTHORIZE THAT DID WE?

I just checked my notes. I never authorized the use of a biometric card in the US on anybody. Did you? No...? Then WHO DID?

Originally Posted by Judy

I just checked my notes. I never authorized the use of a biometric card in the US on anybody. Did you? No...? Then WHO DID?

Judy, are you sure? Didn't you know that President Bush speaks to the American people everyday, and consults them on all the issues?
This is a known fact, don't you know.

Oh....right!! How silly of me. I guess I couldn't "catch it" between his lies, double-talk, deception and "timely tears"!!

Than man makes me sick.