Fax Campaign at Congressman Pete Stark's Office

E-MAIL 3/9/2004


To: Congressman Pete Stark <petemail@stark.house.gov>
Subject: Immigration - CSC Performance Problems - please update at town meeting

*******************************************
ImmigrationPortal.Com
5225 N. Wilson Blvd. Arlington VA 22205
Phone: (703) 908-4800
United for Dignity, Equality and Acceptance
*******************************************

RE: CSC Performance Problems

Dear Congressman Pete Stark;

We are going to attend your town meeting on coming Saturday.
We have seen several performance problems
at the California Service Center (CSC) as follows.
If you can 1) call directly to CSC Director Don Neufeld this week;
and 2) update this issue at your town meeting on Saturday,
I'd appreciate it very much.

1) I-485 Processing Date
When I filed my I-485 application in 2002,
the California Service Center (CSC) was the FASTEST service center
among 4 service centers nationwide.
However, the USCIS has updated CSC I-485 processing date only once
by just one month from 11/16/2001 to 12/16/2001 at the report of 9/1/2003
for last 14 months since 1/15/2003.
Now, the CSC is shamefully the SLOWEST service center.

2) Don Neufeld's Excuse and Promise on I-485 Backlog at CSC
My representative Anna Eshoo wrote to CSC Director Don Neufeld
in November 2003, and he responded to her on 12/22/2003 as follows:
> As we make progress in completing the older background checks,
> the processing time for I-485's will begin to improve.
> However, because of the competing need to adjudicate approximately
> 60,000 El Salvadoran applications for Temporary Protected Status (TPS)
> prior March 9, 2004, we do not anticipate assigning any additional staff
> to process I-485s until the latter half of this fiscal year.
> We do plan to significantly increase resource allocations to I-485
> adjudications beginning April 2004. Based on current workload projections,
> our goal is to reduce the processing time for Adjustment of Status
> applications to 12 months or less by the end of September 2004.
According to USCIS Press Release of 3/4/2004:
http://uscis.gov/graphics/publicaffairs/newsrels/SalvadoranTPSEAD_03_04_04.pdf
> The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) today announced
> it has completed processing renewal Employment Authorization Document (EADs)
> for more than 238,000 Salvadorans who have re-registered
> for Temporary Protected Status (TPS).
This means the competing need that Don Neufeld mentioned has disappeared.
However, we cannot see any improvement on I-485 processing at the CSC.
On the other hand, the number of approvals at 3 service centers
other than CSC has been recently increasing.
Especially, the Texas Service Center (TSC) had been infamous
as the slowest service center for a long time, however, in January 2004,
our colleagues at ImmigratoinPortal.Com contacted Congressman Lamar Smith,
who talked to TSC Director, then the TSC actually started I-485 process
from February 2004.
Only the CSC shows NO PROGRESS at all.

Considering the CSC's ugly performance,
I believe Don Neufeld should resign from CSC Director
unless he can keep his promise beginning April 2004
within a month from now on.
Please talk directly to CSC Director Don Neufeld
and update at your town meeting on Saturday.

Sincerely,

(my name)
(my address)
(my contact information)
WAC-02-124-##### (I-485)
pending at CSC for over 2 years since February 2002 !!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
kashmir,
I think this time if Pete raises his voice mentioning that he will like to help people only in Fremont then we shud be ready for good ,polite argument ,say we every one are trying to meet most of the congressman's/women in bay area and attending town hall meetings of every one. We can reference this by proof of other copies of letters and we all wish you ( Pete ) to voice our concern. This is a individual as well as collective effort to know Congressman/woman what people are suffering because of delay in processing every application by CIS resulting in our/their lives are kept indefinately on hold .resulting in our/their lives are kept indefinately on hold .
 
CA 13th District Residents can make a decision.
I may follow YOUR strategy on Saturday.

By the way,
how about asking how I-485 backlog issue or our litigation is discussed among Congress members in Washington DC ?
-kashmir
Originally posted by kash777
kashmir,
I think this time if Pete raises his voice mentioning that he will like to help people only in Fremont then we shud be ready for good ,polite argument ,say we every one are trying to meet most of the congressman's/women in bay area and attending town hall meetings of every one. We can reference this by proof of other copies of letters and we all wish you ( Pete ) to voice our concern. This is a individual as well as collective effort to know Congressman/woman what people are suffering because of delay in processing every application by CIS resulting in our/their lives are kept indefinately on hold .resulting in our/their lives are kept indefinately on hold .
 
Kashmir, and all attending members :

"how about asking how I-485 backlog issue or our litigation is discussed among Congress members in Washington DC ? "

I feel let us have some kind of structured questions ( may be 2 or 3 questions,or more ,considering there may be lot of people attending this meeting ) . This will help us and it will look like that we all are organised and have done some homework.
 
Today is the last day that you can contribute this FAX campaign !!

Congressman Pete Stark
Fremont Office:
39300 Civic Center Dr. Suite 220
Fremont, CA 94538
Phone: 510-494-1388
Fax: 510-494-5852
 
Received a letter from Pete Stark 3/13/2004


March 10, 2004

Mr. (my name)
(my address)

Dear Mr. (my last name);

Thank you for contacting me for assistance.

Congressional courtesy dictates that I refer constituents not residing within the 13th Congressional District to their respective representative. Therefore, I have forwarded your letter to your representative, Congresswoman Anna Eshoo, at 698 Emerson, Palo Alto, CA 94301. Her phone number is (650) 323-2984.

I am confident Congresswoman Eshoo will do what she can to help you.

Sincerely,
(Pete Stark's signature)
Pete Stark
United States Congressman

FHS:js
 
received a letter from Pete Stark

March 8, 2004

Dear Mr. ***: (How did he know if I am man or woman?)

Thank you for contacting me for assistance.
I have given the information you provided to the appropriate authority. They are aware of my interest in the case, and I'll let you know as soon as I receice a reply.

Pete Stark
 
Reply from Stark

I received a reply from Congressman Stark on 03/13 with the exact same body as the reply that Kashmir has posted.
 
FYI: Pete Stark and my case

On July 1st, I checked my company mail box ( occasionaly I check there) and picked up a letter from Pete Stark dated on March 8. The letter is short like below:

Dear Mr. **: Ref: My case no
In reply to my inquiry on your behalf, the BCIS California Service Center has informed me that your permanent resident card was mailed to you on June 7th, 2004. I'm please to learn that this matter has been solved favorably.
Pete Stark

After reading the letter, I felt a bit confused because I never told them my case no and didn't request them to follow up my case. After reviewing my records, I found I had forgotten the letter from Pete Stark dated on 3/8 (posted above) because I thought it was just a standard reply regarding our fax campaign. In the fax (posted above), I just requested him to contact USCIS for I-485 delay not for my case only, but I did leave my real name and work address. I work in Fremont, but not live there.

I used to think my approval was totally a luck, now I began to believe that the Congressman triggered this. I send a fax to Pete on 3/1; Pete sent something to USCIS on or before 3/8; USCIS generated a RFE on 3/11 and finally approved my case on 5/5.

I appreciate Pete Stark's help very much and am thinking to draft a thanks letter. I also thanks to this forum, especially to Kashmir and 140_takes_4ever for starting the campaigns. Now, I feel more proud of my taking part in the campaigns. Although, the matter is not due to total luck, my effort was overpaid anyway.

Btw, our cards story
Wife: ordered on 6/8, sent on 6/11, received on 6/14
Me: ordered on 6/2, sent on 6/7, returned on 6/18 to USCIS because of undelivery (online say like that since 6/21), called USCIS on 6/29 reinstating we never changed address, reprentative said card would be remailed, didn't receive until now
 
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Hi, wittAAAA,
Thanks for posting your story.
It is encouraging this forum members to participate in campaigns.
Good luck for your card,
-kashmir
 
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