We are into this altogether!

Rajiv S. Khanna

HOST, Immigration.Com
Staff member
Hi All, Please read this document written by Md Alam and post your comments on it.

Subject line: "We are into this altogether"

Subject discussion: As follows.

Folks, all of you know about TSC's mismanagement, inefficiency, and randomness on I-485 processing. TSC's jurisdiction covers 13 states, if it receives more applications; it receives more money (as application fees). We know that only a certain percentage of application fees is being used for adjudication purpose. Still TSC's funding for adjudication purpose should be higher if it receives more applications. Simply put this way: more applications, more funding. At TSC, by simply moving around resources from one product line (e.g.,I-140) to another product line (e.g.,I-485) is NOT going to solve the problem. This "moving around resources" technique is a mere get around, and hence, NOT a solution to the original problem. Folks, the problem here is not TSC's employees or management for that matter, they all are hard working people anyway. The observation is one cannot simply execute a mundane task without the help of proper and adequate funding. So, the issue boils down to the "lack of adequate funding" or “funding inadequacy” and this issue can only be addressed and mandated by the US Congress. As mandated by Federal law (and pointed out by Rajiv), non-immigrants (we I-485 filers are just that) cannot contribute funding for lobbying purpose, period (only permanent residents and citizens are able to do that). Please remember though, as Rajiv mentioned in our discussion, we, non-immigrants, can CERTAINLY work altogether effectively in various other ways in order for our “voices and concerns” to be heard. This country (the USA) is the world leader, the primary example of a democratically elected government, people here are very nice, and we (non-immigrants) are here to CONTRIBUTE to the society, culture, technology and economy of this country. Here, during this electronic/information era, one non-immigrant should NOT need to wait 5-10 years (it takes now-a-days in many instances) in order to know whether (or when) he/she will be called a permanent resident, (specially) when no matter how ironical it may seem to be: this country is the pioneer of the modern electronic/information age.

With the kind help of Homa at Rajiv’s law firm, there was a telephone discussion between Rajiv, Md and Ram on June 17, 2003. At that discussion Rajiv pointed out this: we need a good project management/groupware/community software to take our advocacy to the next step (Rajiv mentioned about this in different postings and discussions, please refer to this posting: http://boards.immigration.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=510683#post510683). For last several months, Rajiv looked at 100 plus packages, many of them are freewares. He would like to see a software that combines the power of Drupal (www.drupal.org) and PHPROJEKT (phprojekt.org). He even talked with a lead developer at Drupal. Rajiv is even willing to finance this project. He certainly does NOT want to own this; his law firm will mange it just like it manages www.immigrationportal.com now. He discussed about this software being a part of say, www.immigrationportal.org for the non-immigrants and immigrants community to use in order to advance our cause, concerns and agenda to be heard and move forward. These are the reasons that Rajiv gives for using such a software:

- the days of townhall meetings are gone. We are all geographically in different time and space zones.

- all efforts must be coordinated, assigned and tracked

- a knowledgebase must be created about who we have contacted, who we have spoken with, who is our friend and who is our foe

- we need to be prepared for continual effort.


We, non-immigrants, can CERTAINLY contribute to this project by financing (if Rajiv agrees) and definitely by providing suggestions (We need this if we want to press our agenda and it is achievable: we all can provide help spending some time on weekly basis in order to provide some thoughtful suggestions) regarding the development of this “project management/groupware/community” software (as for example, what this software should/would do, etc.).

Ladies and gentlemen: I would like to remind all of us (including myself) an issue as Rajiv pointed out, “we can certainly do it as a community - make a difference”. Please note that all people on this board are very nice, wonderful, very hard working people. We had left our home countries a long time back, most of us (on this board) applied for I-485 here (that’s why we are on this board, aren’t we?). So the bottom line is, we all are non-immigrants now and we all are trying to be permanent residents of this beautiful country. So let us be united. Let us forget what color is our skin: brown, semi-brown, yellow, semi-yellow, white, non-white – it does not matter anyway anymore; we are just immigrants for that matter anyway, right? Let us forget which countries we are from, after all, we are in the process of I-485 to make the USA our homeland anyway, so who cares! Folks, please remember, our kids and grand kids will be living here (hopefully), so why should we even bother ourselves thinking and differentiating which countries we are from. Let us walk away from this stereotype of thoughts: I don’t want to do this because this will only (or mainly) help Indians, Pakistanis, Nepalese, English, Bangladeshis, Canadians, and etc., etc. and etc. Folks, let us denounce any and all thoughts (if any at all) that will hinder our ultimate objective: to become lawful permanent residents of this beautiful country. Folks, do you remember the theme of musketeers as outlined in Three Musketeers: “one for all and all for one”. We all trust each other, don’t we? After all, we all will live in this country (may be in different states), right? Our common attribute is, we all are immigrants, no matter where we go (except in the countries where we were born), right? On this board, on texasimmigration and sure enough on other immigration boards, when one answers some other’s question, nobody cares who is who, who is from where, it simply does not matter, one answers and comforts the other anyway as one can. So we can take ourselves one step further, anybody who is helping/contributing by any amount whatsoever on this board, is simply contributing to a greater cause: our immigration. Folks, please remember: “we are into this altogether”.

Ladies and gentlemen: let us help each other out. This is a request to anyone (including myself) who is in the process of I-485 (IT/Non IT professional, it simply does NOT matter), please browse the web sites of Drupal and PHPROJEKT, download these freewares, play with them, find out what do you think as to what this project management/groupware/community software would/should do and please post your thoughtful suggestions on this board. Now, of course, you will do this in your free and spare time, (spend some time probably on a weekly basis). I would like to remind you of one more issue: please do not get carried away when TSC starts approving some I-485 cases. If we do that, we simply will hurt ourselves and nobody else. In addition to my spare time, I personally like the idea of contributing money (no matter how small or how big) to this software project. This software may/will help our (or future immigrants’, for that matter) immigration cause and that is all I care about.
 
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thanks and good idea

i am willing to do whatever it takes. tell me though are we talking about a database which keeps track our initiatives. how is this going to help?
i agree to the fact the people take it easy when they see couple of approvals but it is not done until it becomes smooth and normal

it is good to think outside the box
 
count me in

ISN www.isn.org no longer exists (according to Rajiv) and he is trying to set something similar to this (an advocacy group for immigrants). So this is an effort in that direction. Please count me in for any help needed in this effort.
 
Take Action!

People, hello, my name is Manuel Pereira I am writing this response because I am so frustrated with watching the dog chase his tail. When you want to make changes to laws you have to push the elected lawmakers for change or change the lawmakers, period! I hear you talk about funding and efficiency etc. this is all garbage! The BCIS has money coming out of the cracks in there seats, this change you talk about is not about resources but its about policies. Secondly, I have to disagree with you on the part that BCIS workers are fast, hard, efficient workers; have you visited an office lately? The are slow, inefficient and dont give a damn about your problem in fact I'm willing to bet that they would prefer you do not apply to come to this country at all! If the BCIS became a private organization that was run like a business, then you would see results fast!! I dont want to waste my time talking about the should of and could of, I want to tell you that if after reading this you dont sit down and write a letter to your local congressman or representative, then you are just wasting your time. I want to tell you that if you dont convince your American Citizen freinds or family to vote to remove senators with bad immigration records, then you are just wasting your time. I want to tell you that if you dont push to vote to remove George Bush and John Ashcroft from office then you are just wasting your time. Over the past three or so years civil liberties have only begun to degrade under this regime. I cannot express enough that if you do not act or do not involve yourselves to make political changes, you will not succeed. I affirm to you that you cannot move a mountain out of your way, but you can tear it down from where it stands and build another where it suits you best. I call on everyone who reads this message to get mad, come together, do whatever it takes to bring your families together, but stop talking and start acting. I have talked with over fifteen senators and have written over twenty letters and this continues to grow daily. I do push for changes in my own situation, but I am determined to think about others that my requests for change will help. Please stay active and when you do get your citizen priviledges, do not forget where you came from, help others, stay informed of political events and especially when it comes to civil rights and immigration matters!! VOTE, VOTE, VOTE, WRITE LETTERS, WRITE LETTERS AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN UNTIL CHANGE IS MADE PERIOD!
 
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