On Saturday, my husband and I attended the event arranged for Mr. Khatri's Chicago visit. There were around 175-200 people including the hosts, attorneys, press and general crowd like us. Though it was at the 'Erie neighborhood House', it was arranged by a Chicago based organization called 'caaelii Coalition' (Coalition of African, Asian, European and Latino Immigrants of Illinois. http://www.caaelii.org/ )
The event was from 9:00 am to 11:00 am. Amongst the hosts were Mr. Prakash Khatri and 2 local congressman (Luis Gutierrez and Jan Schakowsky). Most of the people who attended the event were the ones who were facing problems with citizenship (delays!). And there was no open question-answer session. Few testimonies were narrated by a few people and attorneys (all of them related to the citizenship problems/delays and greencard renewal problems).
Overall there was a big chaos! Though the speakers were speaking English, there were instant translators to translate to Chinese and some other language. (At times, these translators were much louder than the speakers). Nobody was talking employment-based greencards! By now we were feeling pretty irritated and almost decided to walk out (specially when one of the narrators started urging for amnesty to all illegal immigrants). But then thought otherwise 'coz we hadn't yet gotten a chance to hand over the petition.
Well, after all the testimonies, the congressman and congresswoman spoke - and then things started changing a bit. They spoke mainly about the delays in processing of all types of cases and how 'LEGAL' immigrants do not deserve it. And how they plan to work closely with this new ombudsman to change the situation and to give a single voice to the problems of the legal immigrants and immigration benefits applicants.
Impromptu by an American
=======================
After this, an American (born/brought up) came forward and told how he met his wife in a foreign country and how they're not being able to get their child to the US. The child is now 6 and so far they've seen him growing in pictures and how BCIS just asks him to wait for 90 more days every time he calls the NCSC. That moved a lot of people - the moral of the story was - BCIS sucks and they're not just bad to immigrants they are just an inefficient agency!
Khatri's speech
===============
Then started the much awaited speech of Mr. Khatri. He spoke about the newly created ombudsman position and a short job profile. An ombudsman is equivalent to BCIS director - but he'll represent the immigrant community (whereas BCIS director will represent the US gov.). He admitted that he can push the BCIS to 'hear' the complaints of the immigrant communities and act accordingly- but ultimately his hands are tied by congress. (On this, congresswoman Jan Schakowsky stepped forward and assured that congressmen like herself were aware of these problems and they would definitely work closely with Khatri to make sure that he can perform his job well). He commented that BCIS had become a victim of it's own rules and regulations. Earlier, it used to take 30-40 minutes to adjudicate a case - now due to various rules, checks/security checks added by various committees, it takes almost 5-6 hours to adjudicate a case (and that's not acceptable and the processing does not make sense). He admitted that the BCIS system is failing and he can definitely work towards pointing out these facts to the BCIS authorities. Khatri committed to work towards "providing a first world service to the immigrants in this first world country".
After his speech, the organizers of this event (caaelii coalition) came forward with a list of few questions for which they demanded a definite yes/no answer from Khatri. It was a little tension building exercise. Khatri agreed to work on the delays - but he could not commit that he could reduce the backlog by 25% within 6 months and by 50% within a year. He said he wished he could, but he could not guarantee the timeline. He agreed to come back to Chicago and meet the community again after 6 months and give a report about his accomplishments in 6 months. At the end, the organizers made him sign the sheet (the points that he promised and did not promise). And that concluded the event.
Afterwards
===========
As soon as the event ended, we ran towards the entrance of the hall. I'd spoken to one of the caaelii members about handing over the petition to Khatri. She guided us to a person called 'Steve Tzikas' - he works as a close assistant to Mr. Khatri. We took this chance and my husband just grabbed him and made him listen to us. We spoke about us 'Employment Based GreenCard seekers' and our plight - how we pay almost 50-60K per year (a lot) in taxes and don't get anyting in return! How BCIS has resources to process our 2 EADs, 2 APs, 2 FPs and no resources to adjudicate our case. Finally when we said "It's easier to be an illegal immigrant in this country than being a lawful resident', he smirked and agreed with us (By then, Mr. Khatri had come out and was standing next to us). I shook hands with him and told him that I have a petition to present on behalf of a community of employment based permanent residency seekers. And we handed the petition to Steve. He asked us for the contact details. I've given him immigrationportal.com website and details of Rajeev Khanna. He also gave us his personal email id. We plan to send a 'Thank You' note to him today. Also, I want to send proper contact details for Rajeev Khanna. I'll start a new thread to ask moderators about it.
After they left, we spoke to the congresswoman Jan Schakowsky to tell us EB greencard seekers' story. She directed us to her district director/ employment based immigration specialist Ms. Leslie. Leslie asked us if we have our own greencard application filed. When we said yes, she asked us to send her an email with our case details. She said she would help us with our case though Jan is not a congresswoman of our area. So today we plan to send her an email with our case details (hopefully some personal gain!).
Once all the hosts (and most of the crowd) had gone, caaelii members asked us if we would join a short meeting to discuss the event. We agreed. caaelii told us that this was supposed to be a closed door meeting with 7 community leaders. But just 10 days ago, they decided to make it a public meeting. Khatri was not very happy but he agreed. That's why they decided not to have any open question-answer session. 'coz we've to look at Khatri as one of us - we definitely don't want to scare him away. I believe the fact that he signed the sheet (with his commitments) and agreed to return after 6 months to give us a report of his achievements was something. Also, he was very honest. He said 'yes' to what he could and it wasn't all 'yes'.
So that's all about the event. We have shown interest to be in the planning committee for the next event (after 6 months). Overall, the event was neither success nor a failure. Out petition is with Khatri now and hope we'll hear something from Khatri's office. Personally, we felt much better after speaking to Steve, congresswoman Jan and Leslie. It was definitely a feeling of comfort that there was someone with some authority to talk to!
The event was from 9:00 am to 11:00 am. Amongst the hosts were Mr. Prakash Khatri and 2 local congressman (Luis Gutierrez and Jan Schakowsky). Most of the people who attended the event were the ones who were facing problems with citizenship (delays!). And there was no open question-answer session. Few testimonies were narrated by a few people and attorneys (all of them related to the citizenship problems/delays and greencard renewal problems).
Overall there was a big chaos! Though the speakers were speaking English, there were instant translators to translate to Chinese and some other language. (At times, these translators were much louder than the speakers). Nobody was talking employment-based greencards! By now we were feeling pretty irritated and almost decided to walk out (specially when one of the narrators started urging for amnesty to all illegal immigrants). But then thought otherwise 'coz we hadn't yet gotten a chance to hand over the petition.
Well, after all the testimonies, the congressman and congresswoman spoke - and then things started changing a bit. They spoke mainly about the delays in processing of all types of cases and how 'LEGAL' immigrants do not deserve it. And how they plan to work closely with this new ombudsman to change the situation and to give a single voice to the problems of the legal immigrants and immigration benefits applicants.
Impromptu by an American
=======================
After this, an American (born/brought up) came forward and told how he met his wife in a foreign country and how they're not being able to get their child to the US. The child is now 6 and so far they've seen him growing in pictures and how BCIS just asks him to wait for 90 more days every time he calls the NCSC. That moved a lot of people - the moral of the story was - BCIS sucks and they're not just bad to immigrants they are just an inefficient agency!
Khatri's speech
===============
Then started the much awaited speech of Mr. Khatri. He spoke about the newly created ombudsman position and a short job profile. An ombudsman is equivalent to BCIS director - but he'll represent the immigrant community (whereas BCIS director will represent the US gov.). He admitted that he can push the BCIS to 'hear' the complaints of the immigrant communities and act accordingly- but ultimately his hands are tied by congress. (On this, congresswoman Jan Schakowsky stepped forward and assured that congressmen like herself were aware of these problems and they would definitely work closely with Khatri to make sure that he can perform his job well). He commented that BCIS had become a victim of it's own rules and regulations. Earlier, it used to take 30-40 minutes to adjudicate a case - now due to various rules, checks/security checks added by various committees, it takes almost 5-6 hours to adjudicate a case (and that's not acceptable and the processing does not make sense). He admitted that the BCIS system is failing and he can definitely work towards pointing out these facts to the BCIS authorities. Khatri committed to work towards "providing a first world service to the immigrants in this first world country".
After his speech, the organizers of this event (caaelii coalition) came forward with a list of few questions for which they demanded a definite yes/no answer from Khatri. It was a little tension building exercise. Khatri agreed to work on the delays - but he could not commit that he could reduce the backlog by 25% within 6 months and by 50% within a year. He said he wished he could, but he could not guarantee the timeline. He agreed to come back to Chicago and meet the community again after 6 months and give a report about his accomplishments in 6 months. At the end, the organizers made him sign the sheet (the points that he promised and did not promise). And that concluded the event.
Afterwards
===========
As soon as the event ended, we ran towards the entrance of the hall. I'd spoken to one of the caaelii members about handing over the petition to Khatri. She guided us to a person called 'Steve Tzikas' - he works as a close assistant to Mr. Khatri. We took this chance and my husband just grabbed him and made him listen to us. We spoke about us 'Employment Based GreenCard seekers' and our plight - how we pay almost 50-60K per year (a lot) in taxes and don't get anyting in return! How BCIS has resources to process our 2 EADs, 2 APs, 2 FPs and no resources to adjudicate our case. Finally when we said "It's easier to be an illegal immigrant in this country than being a lawful resident', he smirked and agreed with us (By then, Mr. Khatri had come out and was standing next to us). I shook hands with him and told him that I have a petition to present on behalf of a community of employment based permanent residency seekers. And we handed the petition to Steve. He asked us for the contact details. I've given him immigrationportal.com website and details of Rajeev Khanna. He also gave us his personal email id. We plan to send a 'Thank You' note to him today. Also, I want to send proper contact details for Rajeev Khanna. I'll start a new thread to ask moderators about it.
After they left, we spoke to the congresswoman Jan Schakowsky to tell us EB greencard seekers' story. She directed us to her district director/ employment based immigration specialist Ms. Leslie. Leslie asked us if we have our own greencard application filed. When we said yes, she asked us to send her an email with our case details. She said she would help us with our case though Jan is not a congresswoman of our area. So today we plan to send her an email with our case details (hopefully some personal gain!).
Once all the hosts (and most of the crowd) had gone, caaelii members asked us if we would join a short meeting to discuss the event. We agreed. caaelii told us that this was supposed to be a closed door meeting with 7 community leaders. But just 10 days ago, they decided to make it a public meeting. Khatri was not very happy but he agreed. That's why they decided not to have any open question-answer session. 'coz we've to look at Khatri as one of us - we definitely don't want to scare him away. I believe the fact that he signed the sheet (with his commitments) and agreed to return after 6 months to give us a report of his achievements was something. Also, he was very honest. He said 'yes' to what he could and it wasn't all 'yes'.
So that's all about the event. We have shown interest to be in the planning committee for the next event (after 6 months). Overall, the event was neither success nor a failure. Out petition is with Khatri now and hope we'll hear something from Khatri's office. Personally, we felt much better after speaking to Steve, congresswoman Jan and Leslie. It was definitely a feeling of comfort that there was someone with some authority to talk to!
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