Letter to the Congress Representative

R

RAsylee

Registered Users (C)
I was thinking about writing a letter to my local congressman to aware him of asylee adjustment situation. I did read in this forum that some folks have already done that. I would like to request that if someone has soft copy and material of the letters that have been previously sent to various congress representatives then I will appreciate if they post it here or I can provide my E-mail address.

This will assist me in compiling a comprehensive letter, which I will post here for my fellow forum regulars to review and assist me in making the content error free.
 
I would also suggest that we send letters to members of the immigration committees as well as the majority/minority leaders.

We have more than 100,000 asylees out there. If only one third send letters, it should have an effect on some lawmakers.

It might not be a bad idea to send a letter to the White House too.
 
I hate to be cynical but I want you to be prepared for disapointments with most congressmen in this country. Very few will even care to reply to you . I sent a letter to my congresswoman Sheila Jackson and she never responded even though she comes across as the poster child for promotion of immigrants' rights. i wont say do not do it but as I said it may not work except with few good members of the congress. PS. if you live in colorado the house committee chair (who has a very bad hair piece will not help you!)
 
Originally posted by shamshon
I hate to be cynical but I want you to be prepared for disapointments with most congressmen in this country. Very few will even care to reply to you . I sent a letter to my congresswoman Sheila Jackson and she never responded even though she comes across as the poster child for promotion of immigrants' rights. i wont say do not do it but as I said it may not work except with few good members of the congress. PS. if you live in colorado the house committee chair (who has a very bad hair piece will not help you!)
Click to expand...

i did it before. and i got her response.
here:

October 28, 2002


Mr. Kelvin
*** **** ****Street
**********, California ****-****

Dear Mr. ***:

Thank you for writing to express your views regarding Refugee
Protection Act. I read your
comments with interest and will keep your comments in mind as my staff and
I review legislation.
Please feel free to contact me again in the future with any matter that is
of importance to you. I
value your opinion and appreciate your interest in actively contributing
to the legislative process.

If you have further questions, or if there is some way I can assist
you in the future on other
matters, please do not hesitate to contact one of my offices:

San Francisco:
(415) 393-0707
Los Angeles:
(310) 914-7300
San Diego:
(619) 231-9712
Fresno:
(559) 485-7430
Washington,
D.C.: (202) 224-3841



Sincerely yours,

Dianne Feinstein
United States Senator


++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I dont know what to do next
 
Thats quite a good idea.If this will be the most effective way for asylees to be heard lets do it.To the best of my recollection,Early this year Alampero1 brought up something of the sort.If you can contact him,he can be able to provide his expertees in this regard. 100.000 I-485 is too many a number just sitting down without doing anything,waiting up 10yrs to process I-485s.We need the letters channeled to different routes in order to have more impact.Some of us will sooner or later be getting our approval letters but there is a bunch of asylees who will be waiting forever thats why the sooner we do it the better.I truly support your idea.Lets get up and do something because nobody is going to do it but we the victims.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Sessanga Charlesa

My intention with this letter was to inform and make the people
aware of our issue. I would like to sub-categorize our group from
asylee to "Approved asylees waiting to be adjusted" and then to
bring attention to the waiting process for people in this queue.

Reason for this approach is that with current heightened awareness and general anti immigration hysteria when anyone thinks about asylees or refugees, the thought is to lets not hurry but check these applicants thoroughly out. I want to emphasize that we are not asylum claimants but have gone through the process of applying for asylum. Our applications have
been processed, interviews have been conducted. Background for this group have been performed by FBI to remind that this group does not pose a security risk.

I want to bring attention to the fact of more then reasonable
time to wait for adjustment process. Another way to educate the people regarding our difference from the asylum applicant who has just applied could be if I can find the # of people that have applied for asylum in past 10 years and out of those #'s how many have made it to our current group of "Approved asylees waiting to be adjusted"

If anyone has any suggestions for the content or presentation please share in this forum and it will be appreciated
 
I can post the data concerning applications filed and applications granted.

In your letter you may want to mention that countries like Canada and Australia grant immediate permanent residence to successful asylum applicants.
 
Hi Gilbert,

Where did you get the info regarding Canada and Australia Ayslees can become permanent resident right away?

Is it someway on the INS website mentioned that?

PS. Senator Dianne Feinstein is one of the very best Senators and she is well respected in the US especially in California. It is good to hear that she actually replied Kevin's letter.

Even though I have not started applying for adjustment of status, but I think it is a good idea that I start writing to Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and Senator Charles Schumer in New York.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Originally posted by cchong
Hi Gilbert,

Where did you get the info regarding Canada and Australia Ayslees can become permanent resident right away?

Is it someway on the INS website mentioned that?

PS. Senator Dianne Feinstein is one of the very best Senators and she is well respected in the US especially in California. It is good to hear that she actually replied Kevin's letter.

Even though I have not started applying for adjustment of status, but I think it is a good idea that I start writing to Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and Senator Charles Schumer in New York.
Click to expand...

My siblings went throught the asylum processes in these two countries. They have long become citizens over there (I was the first to leave our country and apply for asylum but the last to acquire a new nationality).
 
Writing letter is good. We should also call the offices of the senators and representatives. They are busy people and most of the time they will not read letters they receive nor will they answer phone calls. All these are handled by their staff. So talk to their staff. Find out who handles immigration issues for the congressman. Talk to the staff on the phone. Ask for an appointment to see the congressman or the staff. Educate their staff about this issue. I think most of the time they will not know much about this issue. Let them know why it's important. Try to establish a relationship with the staff. They may not have an immediate bills they can vote on. But they may act sometime in the futre once the issue is on their mind.
 
Originally posted by TimZ
Writing letter is good. We should also call the offices of the senators and representatives. They are busy people and most of the time they will not read letters they receive nor will they answer phone calls. All these are handled by their staff. So talk to their staff. Find out who handles immigration issues for the congressman. Talk to the staff on the phone. Ask for an appointment to see the congressman or the staff. Educate their staff about this issue. I think most of the time they will not know much about this issue. Let them know why it's important. Try to establish a relationship with the staff. They may not have an immediate bills they can vote on. But they may act sometime in the futre once the issue is on their mind.
Click to expand...


I know it gonna be more efficient to make a phone call than writing letters..
but...the problem is that my english's not that good to express all of my feeling properly, consider that I came from a non-english-spoken country:( :(
 
It is good to see people in this forum providing input and suggestions in this matter. I want to share my expectation level for this exercise. I am not expecting a miracle, as I am sure people in past have written to various senators and legislators.
What I do want to accomplish is to educate/inform the elected officials (or the staff for elected officials) regarding people like us.

It will take collaborative effort by people like us to get noticed and bring some attention to their problems. In this case the responsibility lies with some 117,000 + asylees who are waiting to be adjusted, to educate the proper officials.

I think that once we have a template of the letter created and made available here in this forum then we can collaboratively act on sending it to the legislators. This should enable us to send a consistent and accurate message which is tailored to our specific issue of "Approved Asylees who are waiting to be adjusted"

Those of us who can call the legislators or meet with the staff of the legislators can also leverage the template as a source of information that they can enlighten the staff with in the phone or personal conversation. In my personal opinion we will have more success in our conversations if we represent our case as a group versus sharing our personal problems that we as asylees have faced and are facing in the adjustment process.
 
write to my congressman

I decide to write a letter to my congressman, anyone got a template of the letter? Any one has written to your congressman? will you please paste it here so I can have an example?
 
Template

I think is a good idea to have a template, that way we're going to be sending the same message nationwide. Count on me to send the letter to my congressman.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top