Persistence pays
That is correct that people are worried about what repercussions this lawsuit can have on their particular case. They are specifically worried about being seen at the courthouse on May 14 when the court hears class certification arguments.
I do not think I qualify to make my comments here, as, though I want to, I would not be able to attend the hearing. The factor of living in far flung central Wisconsin and crammed schedule makes it very difficult for me to attend the hearing despite the fact that this is the first court case I was ever interested in. So I would request you not to judge me only by reading the next paragraphs as a sort of advice. If at all it is a humble presentation of facts, which would help people make the right decision here.
Recently I had a brush with US legal system and I am still going through it. One thing that I learnt is that the courts in this nation take very dim view of any retaliatory action. For example, if one reports discrimination at his/her employer’s business, it makes the things very hard for the employer to fire that individual.
In another case (which I heard at NPR), an uncle employed his nephew (Indian citizen, who came to the US illegally) at his gas station and paid low wages for several years. The nephew took the uncle to court and won. As retaliation the uncle informed to the INS claiming that he is merely responding to INS’s call to trace illegal immigrants. Guess what, even though the nephew is fighting the deportation battle in the court, he won second case against his uncle for retaliatory action.
USCIS is not above nation’s legal system and they also know it very well. If one is right and have been right all along, never committed a crime, and filed everything truthfully with the government, I do not think (and Rajiv could confirm) USCIS can do no harm. Even an employer is afraid of giving negative reference of its ex-employees just because the employee left the employer, unless he/she has perfect evidence supporting this fact.
I would thus request each one of us to stand up for ourselves, our families against this injustice in whichever way we could. And participating in this hearing is a great opportunity to show our solidarity with the team led by Rajiv. I would specifically request sacrifice from the sufferers living in and around DC area. But people from other locations, if you haven’t, please make contributions at IMMIGRATIONPORTAL.ORG
This class action lawsuit is a glimmer of hope for this community and our best chance ever. Since December 2003, the USCIS is working very hard to reduce the backlog. It is not a pure coincidence. This lawsuit convinced USCIS that their inefficiencies would not go unreported and un-responded. They are working hard to save themselves from legal embarrassment that is coming their way, faster than they imagined, by this lawsuit. So please keep pushing till justice comes your way.
Thanks for your patience in reading this long post. I wish the community best of luck in its endeavor.
Jat
