Looking into your crystal ball, do you foresee a
change in INS' present anti-immigration bias
happening in the next few years of the Bush
administration? Is there any reason to be hopeful
of legislative change in favour of those wishing
to become U.S. immigrants? And finally, do you see
INS processing times shortening anytime in this
millenium?

Thank you for any opinions or comments you may
have!

gm

[My apologies for the earlier post with the
truncated message.

Dear gm:

Actually, we do not think that INS in general is anti-immigrant. In fact, if it were not for immigrants, a majority of the INS personnel would be out of jobs. As in any other profession, there are some persons who give a bad name to the rest of the members of that profession.

The anti-immigrant sentiment is greater in Congress than in the immigration service. Things have changed for the better within the last few years, but much more needs to be done to educate Congress of the need for immigrants in our society, and for the need to overhaul some of the drastic provisions contained in the Immigration Act of 1996.

Unfortunately, we do not see immigration processing times, or labor department processing times, improving at any time in the near future. These agencies need more personnel, and that is up to Congress to provide. It is up to people like you to pressure your Congress person to do something about the ridiculous waiting periods. Best wishes.