With tax deadlines over, we can breathe a sigh of relief for making it through one more year of incomprehensible forms and stacks of paperwork. Most people can also be thankful for not having to deal with another government system that surpasses the IRS in complexity. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is an agency notorious for its large bureaucracy and incoherent legal code. Any student or worker who has been through it can attest to the confusing maze of policies and procedures. It can take years to get through the system, and thousands of people are still holding their breath as they wait for answers about their immigration status.
Even though President Obama continues to acknowledge immigration reform as an important issue, his administration has not yet taken major steps to reform it. The USCIS is plagued by backlogs and inefficiency, and businesses and individuals alike suffer when their time and resources are wasted on the system. While there has been much focus on the issue of illegal immigration, little attention is given to the processes that are currently in place for immigrants to enter the United States through legal paths.
From the founding of this nation, waves of German, Irish and Asian immigrants were followed by immigrants from African, Latin American, and Northern and Eastern European countries. Immigration characterizes the United States and continues to be a key source of economic vitality and cultural enrichment. This country was built on the labor and expertise of immigrants, and the system of immigration laws was designed to bring in workers needed for economic growth while keeping families together.
Although immigrants have been welcomed into the country during certain periods of history, the immigration system is caught between dueling value systems. There is still widespread resentment against immigrants, and they are often considered to be outsiders who threaten the nation's physical and financial well-being. The current immigration system is a complex one, full of contradicting laws that are an outcome of political, economic and social changes. These laws are not only difficult to comprehend but arduous to enforce.
For instance, applicants of F1 student visas, K3 family-based visas and other nonimmigrant visa categories are expected to be financially stable and independent for visa approval. But the delays in getting work permits - sometimes more than six months - make it difficult to lawfully sustain a livelihood in the country. And yet people who can't work and depend on the social welfare system are considered public charges, and this can jeopardize their chances for permanent residency. Instead, they must depend on the support of their families and networks, or otherwise risk working illegally.
A streamlined immigration system is vital for a multitude of reasons. USCIS reports a backlog of 3.2 million applications as of January 2009, and some immigrants must wait more than 10 years to have their visas processed. Businesses and organizations that employ legal immigrants spend enormous resources to track applications and follow immigration procedures. They often receive inaccurate information from USCIS representatives about processing and wait times, causing frustration among workers.
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The agency should take every step to reduce processing times and set clear expectations so that applicants are better informed and have less incentive to take illegal routes to enter the country or obtain employment. Simplifying the code of immigration laws would also ease the burdens of legal and political entities that spend time in developing, interpreting, amending and enforcing immigration policies.
But while it's easy to say that the system should be simplified, what would it take to reform the way USCIS operates? The starting point is for the government to make immigration reform a priority and commit to urgent action. While a large-scale reform effort of immigration laws may not be realistic to achieve in the short term, the government could focus on streamlining procedures and creating efficiency to save costs and simplify the process for employers and immigrants.
For example, according to WhiteHouse.gov, USCIS is still unable to finish a project that would have developed the infrastructure and information technology necessary to computerize application processing and track systems in the agency. Instead, service centers must mail case documents between different centers and transfer them between caseworkers in order to process each application, resulting in delays and misplaced documents. While the agency has made efforts for improving its online database for applicant records, there is a lot more that needs to be done. An efficient immigration system would reduce redundancies and save time and resources that are currently going to waste.
In 2007, while still an Illinois senator, Obama stated on the U.S. Senate floor that, "The time to fix our broken immigration system is now.. We need stronger enforcement on the border and at the workplace.. Where we can reunite families, we should. Where we can bring in more foreign-born workers with the skills our economy needs, we should."
Call upon Obama to take action now by phoning his office at 202-456-1111 or 202-456-6213 or by visiting WhiteHouse.gov/contact. It is time for immediate action to affirm our nation's long-standing values as a nation of immigrants.
Pavan Kalasikam is an international management student and has a master's in business administration from UNM's Anderson School of Management.
