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Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge Announces Citizenship and Immigration Ombudsman





U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
Office of the Press Secretary

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 29, 2003

SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY TOM RIDGE ANNOUNCES CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION OMBUDSMAN

Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge is pleased to announce the appointment of Prakash Khatri of Florida to serve as the Citizenship and Immigration Ombudsman at the Department of Homeland Security. Mr. Khatri was most recently the Manager for Immigration and Visa Processing for the Walt Disney World Co. Before working with Walt Disney World Co., Mr. Khatri ran a private practice as an Immigration Law Specialist. Mr. Khatri has a B.A. from Stetson University and his J.D. from Stetson College of Law.

The Citizenship and Immigration Ombudsman is an advocate for the public and Immigrants to the Department of Homeland Security for Immigration issues. According to the Homeland Security Act, this position is responsible for fostering positive liaison activities related to Citizenship and Immigration by making recommendations to resolve justified complaints and for establishing formal and informal channels for exchanging information between the Department of Homeland Security and other entities and for providing policy, planning, and program advice to the Secretary, Deputy Secretary, office heads and other officials.

http://www.immigration.com/newsletter1/sectcitizenshipombudsmen.html
 
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SEC. 452. CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION SERVICES OMBUDSMAN.
(a) IN GENERAL- Within the Department, there shall be a position of
Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman (in this section
referred to as the `Ombudsman'). The Ombudsman shall report directly
to the Deputy Secretary. The Ombudsman shall have a background in
customer service as well as immigration law.
(b) FUNCTIONS- It shall be the function of the Ombudsman--
(1) to assist individuals and employers in resolving problems
with the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services;
(2) to identify areas in which individuals and employers have
problems in dealing with the Bureau of Citizenship and
Immigration Services; and
(3) to the extent possible, to propose changes in the
administrative practices of the Bureau of Citizenship and
Immigration Services to mitigate problems identified under
paragraph (2).
(c) ANNUAL REPORTS-
(1) OBJECTIVES- Not later than June 30 of each calendar year, the
Ombudsman shall report to the Committee on the Judiciary of the
House of Representatives and the Senate on the objectives of the
Office of the Ombudsman for the fiscal year beginning in such
calendar year. Any such report shall contain full and substantive
analysis, in addition to statistical information, and--
(A) shall identify the recommendations the Office of the
Ombudsman has made on improving services and responsiveness
of the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services;
(B) shall contain a summary of the most pervasive and
serious problems encountered by individuals and employers,
including a description of the nature of such problems;
(C) shall contain an inventory of the items described in
subparagraphs (A) and (B) for which action has been taken
and the result of such action;
(D) shall contain an inventory of the items described in
subparagraphs (A) and (B) for which action remains to be
completed and the period during which each item has remained
on such inventory;
(E) shall contain an inventory of the items described in
subparagraphs (A) and (B) for which no action has been
taken, the period during which each item has remained on
such inventory, the reasons for the inaction, and shall
identify any official of the Bureau of Citizenship and
Immigration Services who is responsible for such inaction;
(F) shall contain recommendations for such administrative
action as may be appropriate to resolve problems encountered
by individuals and employers, including problems created by
excessive backlogs in the adjudication and processing of
immigration benefit petitions and applications; and
(G) shall include such other information as the Ombudsman
may deem advisable.
(2) REPORT TO BE SUBMITTED DIRECTLY- Each report required under
this subsection shall be provided directly to the committees
described in paragraph (1) without any prior comment or amendment
from the Secretary, Deputy Secretary, Director of the Bureau of
Citizenship and Immigration Services, or any other officer or
employee of the Department or the Office of Management and
Budget.
(d) OTHER RESPONSIBILITIES- The Ombudsman--
(1) shall monitor the coverage and geographic allocation of local
offices of the Ombudsman;
(2) shall develop guidance to be distributed to all officers and
employees of the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services
outlining the criteria for referral of inquiries to local offices
of the Ombudsman;
(3) shall ensure that the local telephone number for each local
office of the Ombudsman is published and available to individuals
and employers served by the office; and
(4) shall meet regularly with the Director of the Bureau of
Citizenship and Immigration Services to identify serious service
problems and to present recommendations for such administrative
action as may be appropriate to resolve problems encountered by
individuals and employers.
(e) PERSONNEL ACTIONS-
(1) IN GENERAL- The Ombudsman shall have the responsibility and
authority--
(A) to appoint local ombudsmen and make available at least 1
such ombudsman for each State; and
(B) to evaluate and take personnel actions (including
dismissal) with respect to any employee of any local office
of the Ombudsman.
(2) CONSULTATION- The Ombudsman may consult with the appropriate
supervisory personnel of the Bureau of Citizenship and
Immigration Services in carrying out the Ombudsman's
responsibilities under this subsection.
(f) RESPONSIBILITIES OF BUREAU OF CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION
SERVICES- The Director of the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration
Services shall establish procedures requiring a formal response to all
recommendations submitted to such director by the Ombudsman within 3
months after submission to such director.
(g) OPERATION OF LOCAL OFFICES-
(1) IN GENERAL- Each local ombudsman--
(A) shall report to the Ombudsman or the delegate thereof;
(B) may consult with the appropriate supervisory personnel
of the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services
regarding the daily operation of the local office of such
ombudsman;
(C) shall, at the initial meeting with any individual or
employer seeking the assistance of such local office, notify
such individual or employer that the local offices of the
Ombudsman operate independently of any other component of
the Department and report directly to Congress through the
Ombudsman; and
(D) at the local ombudsman's discretion, may determine not
to disclose to the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration
Services contact with, or information provided by, such
individual or employer.
(2) MAINTENANCE OF INDEPENDENT COMMUNICATIONS- Each local office
of the Ombudsman shall maintain a phone, facsimile, and other
means of electronic communication access, and a post office
address, that is separate from those maintained by the Bureau of
Citizenship and Immigration Services, or any component of the
Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services.

http://www.immigration.gov/graphics/Title_IV-E.pdf
 
Editor's Comments
Immigration Attorney Appointed DHS Ombudsman

Immigration Daily is pleased to note the appointment of Prakash Khatri, an immigration practitioner from Florida, as Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman at DHS. For those seeking immigration services from the government, this is a critical position, and that makes Mr. Khatri's appointment very good news. Here are the duties of this position, according to DHS's reorganization plan.

The Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman will report directly to the Deputy Secretary; and will be responsible for the following:
Assisting individuals and employers in resolving problems with the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services;
Identifying areas in which individuals and employers have problems in dealing with the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services; and
Proposing changes in the administrative practices of the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services to mitigate identified problems.
A brief profile of Mr. Khatri will interest our readers:
Over 19 years of legal experience including 5 years experience managing the Immigration Compliance Department at the Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.
Former Chairman of the Immigration Committee of the Orange County Bar Association.
Former President, American Immigration Lawyers Association, Central Florida Chapter.
Past President of the Asian-Pacific American Heritage Council of Central Florida, Inc.
Previously served as Vice President of Association of American Lawyers from the Indian Sub-Continent, Inc.
Served on State of Florida’s Employment Discrimination Outreach Program.
Recipient of Legal Aid Society of Orlando pro-bono service Award in 1997.
Managed the Immigration Compliance Department at the Walt Disney World Resort for five years from 1998-2003.
We are excited that the nation will benefit from his services in this position, which is critical to the immigration bar. We are also heartened that the Deputy Secretary of the DHS will have direct access to Mr. Khatri's experience and intimate knowledge of the immigration process. We welcome this appointment, and look to the future with hope.

http://www.ilw.com/lawyers/immigdaily/digest/2003,0730.shtm
 


Immigration Backlog reduction petition




Dear Friends,
Let's welcome Mr.Prakash Khatri, new Citizenship and Immigration Ombudsman at the Department of Homeland Security and put forward our problem of Immigration backlog reduction request infront of New ombudsman in the form of petition since according to the Homeland Security Act, this position is responsible for fostering positive liaison activities related to Citizenship and Immigration by making recommendations to resolve justified complaints and for establishing formal and informal channels for exchanging information between the Department of Homeland Security and other entities and for providing policy, planning, and program advice to the Secretary, Deputy Secretary, office heads and other officials.

 
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Yes, I think this is very good idea. Let us start working on petition to Prakash Khatri and welcome him with this great activity of BCIS.

I request fellow petition makers to arrange this.
 
Clueless, can you ask Rajiv to send our petition to this guy also?

We need add more in the petition, we need point out BCIS always use excuse to delay 485 processing, such as TPS, religious workers, 485 hasn't been processed normally for over a year now. We need show our protest.
 
To dengdeng

Hi dengdeng:

I will ask Rajiv to send the petition to this guy. I guess we
have to make some changes to the petition to account for
the excuses the BCIS uses to further delay employment-based
I-485.

Once we have the new petition available, I'll post it on this
web-site to get your opinion. At the same time, please find
more parties we can send the peititon to.

Clueless123
 
I think the current petition doens't pinpoint the actual problem -
BCIS is a dark black hole. We need let BCIS know, that we have the right to know where our case is. and when it will be processed.

I have few suggestions, which can be included in the petition
1) Online status should give more details instead of pending...
such as second FP is sent, case is in transit to officer...... Since there's no way to obtain such information, if the letter is lost, or they forgot to send you the notice, then you're in an endless waiting loop. If BCIS wants to save more money and work force, then simply give the damn information to us on status website! Status could be password protected, with case number + name info, you can log into a database to view your current status

2) Processing time + 2 more months should be qualified for expedite, finish in 15 days. If can't, at least give an adequate excuse.

3) second FP should be sent automatically regardless if in officer's hand to expedite the whole process. And case processed at same time.

4) Over delayed cases holders should be able to call VSC info line, not the useless 800 number. At least give lawyer some rights to contact officers.

5) Please don't set 485 as lowest priority all the time, we have families, we have life plans. Why we are always the victims.

6) FBI should add a phone line to let us check name check passed or not, same as FP.
 
I think Clueless123 and dengdeng are talking about the petition for VSC Oct/Nov/Dec 2001 filers but I'm proposing new petition to address backlogs for Employment based I-485 applications .
There is no use of sending a petition which has very little scope, I prefer to send a petition with has more broader scope. Here we are talking about sending petition to a person who can influence policy making at various levels. Also we can get more signatures if the scope is more broader than the mentioned petition which has about 300 signatures. Don't tell me that number of signatures doesn't matter, I strongly believe that it matters. Even for California governor recall request they got about 900,000 signatures. Even Suleka.com petition for recent H1B bills has about 17,000 signatures. I think 100,000 signatures should be target for the new petition, so the scope of our petition should be more broader than the current petition.
The new petition should address some more issues like
1. Employment based I-485 applications are given low priority than TPS cases, Asylum cases, Religious workers cases, DV lottery cases,... . The policy has to be reversed and Employment based I-485 applications has to be given higher priority.
2. Till the processing time is reduced EAD and Advanced parole has to be issued for minimum of 2 or 3 years instead of 1 year.

I wish every forum member give their suggestion for this proposed new petition
 
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dengdeng, clueless ...

Edison's thoughts looks good as we will have more scope if we talk about entire 485 employement applications . and then we can write ( support ) how much is the delay by giving them some statistics of Oct, nov, dec , Jan cases as it is almost more than 18 months till Jan as per their date written on 485 RD.

also I think we can send copy of petition to Head Homeland security , Tom Ridge , if you all guys think if that is okay.
 
1amShantanuB,
It not that about the trust. It's just about contacting a person who can influence immigration policy.
 
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What Edisor suggested is not enough. If they issue you an EAD for 2 years, what if you lose job during that period. We need urge them to finish the case as soon as possible. And specially for backlog cases, cases longer then normal processing time, VSC should provide some explanations why case is delayed. I didn't say this is only for Oct/Nov/Dec. It is for general 485 cases.

You don't think Jan/Feb will have leftovers like Oct/Nov/Dec?
 
dengdeng,
1. EAD/Advanced Parole suggestion is to take care of the current situation. Backlogs cannot be reduced within a day or week, so let's be practical. So if they issue EAD/Advanced Parole for 2 or 3 years it might help recent I-485 applicants.

2. EAD/AP suggestion is to handle the current situation, for permanent solution Employment based cases should be given higher priority than the other cases which will resolve the backlog of these cases.

3. Leftovers are due to name check process, so the name check process should be more transparent than the current one. Also name check process has to be handled with in certain timeframe, otherwise they have to proceed with the approval of GC similar to FP processing handled by legacy INS. Obviously they can revoke GC or Citizenship if they find any problem at the later stage.
 
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I agree with Edison on

broader scope petition. Dengeng, when you said "cases longer then normal processing time" you are touching a gray area. I would say any cases pending longer than 6 months are "longer than normal". If you are thinking longer than 19 months which are pre-Dec02 cases, the scope are too narrow! Also, you are endorsing the unacceptable 19-month "official" processing time. What if they announce a 24-month "official" processing time?

The key here is to reduce the 1.2 million pending I-485 cases, giving employment-based cases higher priority.


Originally posted by dengdeng
What Edisor suggested is not enough. If they issue you an EAD for 2 years, what if you lose job during that period. We need urge them to finish the case as soon as possible. And specially for backlog cases, cases longer then normal processing time, VSC should provide some explanations why case is delayed. I didn't say this is only for Oct/Nov/Dec. It is for general 485 cases.

You don't think Jan/Feb will have leftovers like Oct/Nov/Dec?
Click to expand...
 
Do not BLINDLY trust this person. Remember he is indian orgin
Click to expand...
Hi Shantanu,
Please don't show indians in such poor light, even in jokes. People from every country have their own drawbacks. But for a few crooks, majority of indians are good people. Comments like yours, is affecting the image of indians among others. Remember some one (user udacha6) said that indians are always fighting here and they are not patriotic. Also i saw some one posting here yesterday, saying "if you are a Desi from India, goback to India and find a job". I don't think any indians like this type of remarks from others. But we can't blame others alone. We should be cautious in our postings.

To all others :
Actually Prakash Khatri offers a great opportunity for us to do something to improve the processing delays at the service centres. This is our best chance and if we don't utilise it, then we won't find another chance (you never know when he will be layed off). Being an immigrant lawyer, he will be sympathetic to us. His main duty is to act on the grievances of genuine cases. We should all contribute towards drafting the final copy of Memo that we can send to Mr Khatri.
Here are my suggestions (points) that should be included :
1) Processing time for the EB I485 applications should be brought down back to 1 year.
2) Some adjudicators should be allotted exclusively to work on backlog cases. This will help in better tracking of the old cases
3) All new EAD's shoul be issued for 2 years. The current 1 year EAD system is the single biggest drag on BCIS. Because EAD is of higher priority, most of the staff arespending a whole lot of time on EAD applications. Once the I485 processing time gets back to 1 year, then the can revert the EAD validity time back to 1 year
4) BCIS must reply within 1 month, to all status queries by the Attorneys for the cases pending for more than 180 days. BCIS must give the vaid reason why the application could not be processed till now.

These are some of my thoughts. If any one prepares the draft Memo, then we all can discuss it.
 
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I agree with Dengdeng – the focus should be on overall reduction of backlogs / approval time for all.
Or else (we can request)
There should be a policy of interim GC after a certain period of 485 filing (i.e. 18 months) and there should not be any restriction after that in terms of Job title, responsibility and salary. After that period, 485 can only be denied on criminal / physical ground only.
Just a thought
 
Yes,
We should definitely ask for interim GC after 1 year. Let's include that in the Memo. Is any one working on the Memo ?
 
YJay, asking 6 months is too much. We need to be realistic. Based on current speed, 18 months is already too much for BCIS. We should ask for 18 months as normal processing time. What do you think?

If a case has been pending for more than 18 months, the applicant has right to request expediting. This will be enough.
Backlog has to be eliminated gradually, if you ask 6 months, then nobody will get expedite because everybody is qualified. Let's be realistic and ask a time not too much for BCIS to implement in near future. We should point out that 6 months is the ultimate goal. But in the near future, let's stick with 18 months.
 
The interim GC is very ideal. But that needs the government to pass a law. BCIS won't be able to authorize it. Let's be realistic.
Right now, let's argue if a case has been pending for 18 months,
BCIS should allow expedite the case if the case is ready to be adjudicated. That can at least solve some of the backlogs and assure GC waiters that you have day light some day. I think this they should be able to implement.
 
we should point out that VSC is always chanign processing time. That's outrageous. We should say 18 months is the most we can tolerate.

I am wondering if all of us should chip in to ask some lawyer to write this petition for us. Everybody can donate a check of 10$ sth. If we have 1000 people signing that will be 10k.

What do you guys think.
 
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