Minutes of the meeting at CA 12th District Congressman's office

[140_takes_4ever]

Just wanted to inform people that we met with staff from Congressman Tom Lantos's, (D) CA 12th District, office this morning.

The 4 people who made it for the meeting were:

• Kashmir
• INS_Best_Friend
• san_gcwait
• 140_takes_4ever

We handed over the petition to Mr. Javier Hienz, an immigration case worker in Congressman Lantos's office.

It was a pretty productive meeting considering that Mr. Hienz informed us that in his meeting with Don Neufield (Director of CSC), he had brought this matter about 485 approvals up to the director who indicated that he was aware of the issue and was taking steps to reduce the backlog.

Mr. Hienz also assured us that we would be granted face time with the Congressman in the near future (Jan '04), where we could discuss this issue, and also work with us in drafting a letter of inquiry, to be issued to the Director of CSC with regards to the reduction of 485 backlogs.

All in all it was a good meeting with some solid increments promised in the near future. INS_Best_Friend and san_gcwait, have kindly agreed to be the liason between us and the Congressman's office, and follow up with the Congressman and his staff to work towards our common goal.

I would like to thank all the people who made it to the meeting on a weekday inspite of their hectic work schedules. And would like to request other forum members to PLEASE emulate this action, by meeting with the Congressional staff and Congressmen/women of their district. If more of us start this process, then they have to listen to us. We are tomorrow's voters and we won't forget.

 

[PCee]

Thank you...

Kashmir, INS_Best_Friend, san_gcwait & 140_takes_4ever,

I am very happy to know that people are taking steps and doing things which will really make some difference (rather than simply sitting back and complaining about the system). In a system which has problems of this magnitude it may take some time to see the real results and you may find many people time to time questioning what difference it made so far etc. but any time please do not loose your hope and sight of your goal. It may or may not help some one who will/suppose to get their approval this month or next month but it will sure help big time this community.

With very best wishes
PCee

 

[kashmir]

TO: 140_takes_4ever,
Thanks for your writing the minutes and posting.
It would encouage everyoone in this forum and accellerate the project to achieve our goals.

TO: san_gcwait and INS best friend,
Thanks for your representing us for CA 12th District.
I believe we can work with Congressman Tom Lantos and his staffs for our goals.

TO: PCee,
I am very pleased to see your suporting our project.
Although our current focus is EB I-485 backlog issue at the CSC,
we will have to shift our focus to amendment of Naturalization requirement once we would succeed achieving our first goal.
Are you interested in changing the law to get our U.S. Citizenship by 2008 Election ?
-kashmir

 

[GreenWaiter]

Thanks a lot folks. May god bless you all.
Hope things will be heard and something will happen to get this mess cleared.
You guys have been doing a excellent work in running this forum.
GW

 

[reach_honey]

thank you all.
you guys are awesome.
God(may be right now USCIS) Bless us all.

 

[ECGC]

Good job guys and Thanks to all your efforts!!

 

[Totos]

Thank You guys

Thank You guys for taking the initiative.

I hope others will wake up and join the fight for their rights.

-Totos

 

[140_takes_4ever]

Re: Thank You guys

Originally posted by Totos
I hope others will wake up and join the fight for their rights.

AMEN!

Wanted to thank everyone who wished us well. Also, if anyone wants to meet with Congressmen from their respective districts, and need assistance please speak up. We are are here to help each other by sharing experiences, knowledge and support. We also have petitions and cover letters ready for you to use.

If you are in/around the bay area, some of us will drive up and join you in your meeting to increase the show of hands.

Also, if anyone from southern California stands up and takes the lead in organizing meetings like this with Congressmen from/around LA/Orange county it would be simply awesome! It won't take much of your time, and it could have the side benefit of speeding up your approval process since the Congressmen will actually get to know you and could follow up strongly with INS with regards to your case. (just to get you off their backs! )

 

[thripu]

Thank you guys. God bless you all.

 

[monster]

good job

may all you gc's get approved with seconf fp and RFE.

WIsh me the same.

thanks

 

[pceefan]

It's often said what goes around comes around, your good deed, will have its own rewards in due course. Thanks a tone guys!

 

[Hari_Seldon]

great show;

I live in southern california (near pasadena). While i don't think I will be able to lead (given the fact that one just works harder each day to maintain one's job - without pay of course) I can participate in a show of hands and can join any group here....

warm regards

Hari_Seldon

 

[haiwang112803]

c

 

[kashmir]

Originally posted by haiwang112803
...
I want to join in this group.
I live in San jose, CA. 95134, but work at pleasanton, CA 94588. Who should I contact, or you guys give me some downloadable materials, so I can mail or deliver to them?
...

Hi, haiwang112803,
Your representative is decided by your residential address.
ZIP CODE 95134 SPLITS 2 DISTRICTS:

• CA-15: Mike Honda
• CA-16: Zoe Lofgren

Please check with 9-digit ZIP+4 at http://www.house.gov/ or http://www.congress.gov/

For CA 15th District, a couple of people have been contacting Mike Honda's office.

For CA 16th District, rk4gc has been contacting Zoe Lofgren's office since the town hall meeting being held on 10/11/2003,
but it must be a good idea to visit her office next week.
-kashmir

 

[kashmir]

Originally posted by Hari_Seldon
...
I live in southern california (near pasadena). While i don't think I will be able to lead (given the fact that one just works harder each day to maintain one's job - without pay of course) I can participate in a show of hands and can join any group here....
...

Hi, Hari_Seldon,
Even though you can not lead, you can fax your letter to your representative office or visit his/her district office which is usually close from your home,
then please post your experience at this forum such as Project Ocean thread.
Those who lives near Pasadena would join you.
Also, we can support faxing a letter to your representative office.

By the way, I will visit Southern California this weekend and attend Ed Royce (R CA 40th) Town Hall Meeting near Disneyland this Saturday afternoon,
but it may be a little bit far from Pasadena.

 

[kashmir]

TO: those who says "Thanks".
You're welcome.
Also, I encourage your participation such as faxing a letter to your representative or visiting his/her office, then posting your experience in this forum.

If you live in San Fransico Bay Area such as CA 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, and 16th District, we have already had a direct contact with the representative office, so post your district information at first.

I strongly feel that the situation has been chaning since mid November, but we don't see any firm result yet.
Accellerating our project, we would see a real result early in 2004.

 

[140_takes_4ever]

Originally posted by Hari_Seldon
I live in southern california (near pasadena). While i don't think I will be able to lead (given the fact that one just works harder each day to maintain one's job - without pay of course) I can participate in a show of hands and can join any group here....

Doesn't matter if you don't have the time to lead but your participation is very important and for that we thank you.

As Kashmir mentioned in an earlier post, if you could fax the petition to your representative's office, that would make for a terrific start. Also, you could keep an eye out for your representative's town meeting which is usually held on a weekend of after working hours on a weekday. If you are free at that time, you could step by for a few minutes and make personal contact with the Congressman and/or his staff.

Believe me when I say this, (Kashmir will bear me out on this), everytime we meet a Congressman's staff, they encourage us to give them our case details so they can follow up with INS. So your participation will have a direct consequence upon your case. This is your bonus for taking the trouble to have your voice heard!

 

[140_takes_4ever]

Originally posted by haiwang112803
I want to join in this group.
I live in San jose, CA. 95134, but work at pleasanton, CA 94588. Who should I contact, or you guys give me some downloadable materials, so I can mail or deliver to them?
if I not belong to the district of Congressman Lantos's, can i deliver the petion to him?

haiwang112803,

Thank you for taking the trouble to participate. You are MOST WELCOME to join us in our show of hands. As Kashmir mentioned in one of the earlier posts, we have already made initial contact with various Congressmen from the bay area. But it would help immensely if you could send your fax to your Congressman after finding out your district from www.congress.org

You are also welcome to join us in our next show of hands as well as coming to the face to face meeting with Congressmen, that we plan to schedule for next week. You can also take the lead in organizing this kind of meeting with your Congressman and we can join you for that one.

Thanks once again to you and all the other people who are motivated enough to join us in this fight and are tired of sitting still doing nothing.

 

[becky]

Thanks

Thank you for all your hard work.

 

[kashmir]

Re: Thanks

Originally posted by becky
Thank you for all your hard work.

You're welcome, becky.
Also, thanks for your having visited both Senators's San Fransico district offices and posted your experience to share.

How about Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi ?
I will fax to her district office later.