I’m not very good at spelling out my feelings on a message board. There is no way for me to convey the anger, frustration, and impotence I feel in this situation. If I don’t get a chance to vent this, I feel like I will explode. Thanks ahead of time for putting up with a long post. Here’s my story.
My very serious and significant girlfriend (“Kim”) was recently denied citizenship, for reasons that can only be described as a gross mischaracterization of justice. Her ex-husband filed false charges against her of domestic violence during their break-up in order to give him an advantage in the divorce. An advantage that he made very good use of to gain custody of their son.
She went into her interviews with a letter from her divorce lawyer explaining what really happened. He even referred to actual court testimony that proved what the ex had done, and where the ex even admitted to the judge what his purpose was in having Kim arrested. During both interviews, the INS person told Kim they could see the charges were without merit, and that they understood the circumstances and there should be no problem. They told her that her supporting evidence and extenuating circumstances were compelling.
(Aside: Because of her complex circumstances, Kim had to be called for a second interview. One of the requirements is to be fingerprinted. Not only did she have to pay for two interviews ($280 each), she had to pay to get fingerprinted again! You would THINK that they could use the fingerprints from the previous interview 3 months prior. But NO, she was forced to pay an additional $55 to get re-fingerprinted for the second interview.)
However, the final review was nothing but a rubber-stamp rejection. Obviously no consideration of the evidence. In the letter of denial, the INS accused Kim of acts of “baseness and depravity” and of committing crimes of “moral turpitude.” Needless to say, she was (and is) distraught (to put it mildly). Her Green Card expires next summer; and she fears deportation and losing all contact with her son. It makes me wonder why they even have a personal interview if someone up the line who obviously has no knowledge of any details can just summarily reject an application.
It gets worse; much worse. Please bear with me.
Along with the rejection letter, there were instructions for an appeal. The INS told her to send a $110 fee, and that the appeal had to be filed within 30 days. The amount of $110 was stated specifically on two separate documents; 1) the boilerplate form, and 2) her case-specific rejection letter, dated May 2000. No problem, right?
WRONG. In June, they returned her appeals packet to her unread (“No record has been made of your correspondence”) because they claim she had not filed the correct fee of $170. They stated the fee had increased effective January 14, 2000, and by the way, the 30 days are up, too bad, so sad, no appeals for you. Oh, and they have the audacity to begin this particular correspondence with “To serve you more efficiently…”
And forget trying to get anyone at the INS to even talk to you. Kim’s INS office is the one in Tucson. Used to be, they had one day out of the week, if you called between 9-10 or 3-4, that you could actually leave a message that (supposedly) would enable you to get a return call sometime. Recently, I tried to call the Tucson office to talk to somebody about the appeals fee fiasco. I got a recording saying they now had an 800# contact.
Great! Right? No long-distance charge. WRONG! IT IS A TRICK AND A LIE! The 800# is nothing more than the national INS “helpline” where you punch numbers to get forms or such. No help for us at all. I finally punch numbers until I get a live person. My question is simple: I have a specific situation that I have to deal with the Tucson office directly. “Please can I have that number?”
(INS Demon Bitch) “I’m sorry sir, but the field offices no longer have customer numbers.”
(Patient Me) “What are you talking about? I need to ask a question. They used to have a number.”
(INS Demon Bitch) “We don’t have the numbers for the field offices, sir.”
(Frustrated Me) “I hear what you are saying, but I don’t believe for one moment that the national IRS can’t give me a direct number.”
(INS Demon Bitch) “I don’t know any number to give you, sir. We really don’t have that information available to us.”
(Irate Me) “That is BULLSHIT and you know it! You can’t tell me you have no idea how to get in touch with the field offices! You can’t tell me there are no phones there! I know if I walked in that office I would see phones on the desks! THEY ARE NOT DECORATIONS! They are there for a purpose, correct? What purpose could be more important than serving a customer in dire straights? It’s not that big a deal to talk to someone!!! How can this be the Immigration and Naturalization SERVICE with no service!?”
It did no good to argue, so I ended up hanging up with no answers.
(Aside: I WORK FOR THE FREAKIN’ FEDERAL GOVERNMENT!!! In a typical DC regulatory agency! Guess what? I HAVE A PHONE! Everyone here has a phone. You want to call me, call me! My phone will ring and I will answer it! No “operator” telling you to get lost; no endless push button menus to nowhere! Our building even has an 800# where you can tell them my extension and get me direct at no cost to you! This goes for everyone here, including upper management!)
Ya want more? I gots more:
Once, Kim and I were at the Tucson office. I have never seen ruder and less helpful people than we encountered there. It went like this:
Kim to INS Counter Lady: “Hi, I have a question…”
“Do you have an appointment?”
“No, I just need some information about what I need to do…”
“If you don’t have an appointment, you need to take a number.”
“But all these people are waiting for interviews, I just need to ask…”
“Take a number and sit down.”
(Sits down and waits. We wait for about three hours.)
“Okay, here’s my number that you called. I need some information…”
“Do you have your interview packet ready?”
“I’m not here for an interview; I’m moving to Flagstaff, and I need to know…”
“We don’t answer questions here, you need to call this number.”
“I’ve called this number many times. No one ever answers. I only get a busy signal or a recording. I really need to talk to someone because I have questions about my circumstances…”
“You can talk to someone at your interview.”
“But I don’t have an interview scheduled yet, that’s one of the questions…”
“Good bye; Next!”
Another time, when she was there by herself, the security guards insulted her on the way out. I’m talking really nasty stuff. Making comments about “stupid foreigners” to each other while in her presence. On purpose to belittle her. She told me about it later in tears. (At least we got some satisfaction on this one. I sent a letter to the office supervisor informing of the behavior of the guards. I was in rare form on that one, and demanded a written apology…which Kim got.)
I even walked into my local support office (Silver Spring, MD) just for some general information. Nothing specific. The guy at the desk wouldn’t even try to answer my questions; he told me to go to Baltimore. (Funny, he didn’t know the phone number either…) A colleague here at work carpools with an INS person–one who works in the Washington HQ. She asked this lady where I could go for information (nothing specific, just who can I talk to). The INS lady said that her agency has no public liaison.
YOU CAN’T WALK INTO THE OFFICE AND ASK ANYBODY ANYTHING! She also told me it would be a waste of time to go to the Baltimore office because they wouldn’t even talk to me there either. She wasn’t being rude. In fact she was quite sympathetic. She was just speaking the truth.
“So how does a person with a question or situation get to speak with anybody about it?”
“You don’t.”
“Oh.”
The lawyer I spoke with will require a retainer of $2500. She sounds tenacious and willing to take on the INS (that is her specialty). She can even refer us to cheaper counsel if we want. Actually, I feel like we can prevail in a legal route because we are so obviously being wronged here. But who knows? What happens if Kim doesn’t get citizenship; and the INS pulls this shit when her Green Card expires next summer? If she can’t get her Green Card renewed she will have to be deported. And then she will probably never see her son again.
I feel this would be too much for Kim to handle. As it is, she is already distraught over losing custody of her son. She lives for her visitation time with him. She spends hours every day in prayer (with considerable prayer support from me, as well–even if it means praying together over the long-distance phone on a regular basis), asking God for two things: citizenship and to regain custody of her son.
Again, I’m not very good at spelling out my feelings on a message board. The loving concern that I feel for Kim causes me many tears (even as I type this) and many sleepless nights. All because the INS is full of faceless bureaucrats who don’t care one whit about an individual. They are the embodiment of Federal evil. Fuck them all to Hell.