Good ole Boy's Texan attitude 'bout immigrants!
To some, the big story may have been the one in the morning dailies that focused on the E-Verify project George Bush wants to implement at U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Services.
The lofty idea is aimed at curbing illegal immigration and to verify that workers are entitled to work in the United States.
But, even in its infancy, the experts are pooh-poohing the President's assertions that it is the road to travel down to effectively alleviate the problem of illegal immigration in the U.S.
Actually - there is a more sinister news story brewing beneath the surface about to erupt across the Nation - and it has to do with lost documents, INS retaliation against immigrants seeking to renew green cards and/or gain legal papers for U.S. residency, and the wrongful conduct of INS employees who have - on occasion - withheld legal documents from immigrants seeking their lawful right to legal status in this country.
In spite of the fact George W. Bush has received written complaints from concerned immigrants about the troubling situation, he has basically shuffled off the complaints to his minions and ignored the issues.
One main battle cry from the anti-immigrant front is that "illegals" are thumbing their noses at the system because they do not go through the "front door" to gain legal status.
However - in view of the outrageous conduct of INS Officials (which include the suspicious loss of documents, excessive delays in the processing of petitions, retaliation against complainants who question the system, and a denial of petitions without notice or right to appeal) it's quite obvious to any sensible person that going through the back door appears to be the only way!
One immigrant with a green card residing in the U.S. for over twenty years - for example - applied for a renewal of a green card over a year-and-a-half ago. After about nine months, when there was no response from the local field office, the individual contacted the INS for an update on the status of their application.
At this juncture, the frustrated applicant was informed that their paperwork was "lost" (without explanation or sympathy) and that they would have to re-submit all documents for a reconsideration of the issues.
The individual dutifully followed the instructions of the INS staff, but the difficulties persisted.
About six months later when the paperwork was still not processed, and the green card technically expired, staff refused to provide an "extension" sticker for the residency card or even respond to written communications.
Then, the frustrated immigrant proceeded to file a complaint with the President, George W. Bush.
About six weeks later - a supervisor at the INS mailed out a response letter - noting that Mr. Bush had passed on the complaint to that Department for a review and that the matter had been assigned a Case Number for further investigation.
Weeks passed - and when there was no word - the party zipped off a letter to the INS supervisor for an update. After a month when there was no response, the immigrant proceeded to lodge a complaint with the Ombudsman's Office, which is newly-headed up by a disreputable incompetent fellow by the name of Michael Dougherty.
Within a week after the complaint issues were raised to Mr. Dougherty's office, the immigrant was shocked to receive a letter back from that office advising that the petition had been denied back in January.
The immigrant had not even received any notice from the INS!
A subsequent paper trail - and a review of the documents - establishes that right after the immigrant filed a complaint with George Bush's office, Robert M. Cowan at the National Benefits Center in Lee's Summit proceeded to "deny" the petition, obviously as an act of retaliation against the individual for filing a complaint against the staff in that office.
In a comunication to Mr. Dougherty, the immigrant noted that no legal notice had been sent out which was required by law, and that - likewise - there had not been any notice of procedures to follow in the wake of the rejected petition in respect to lodging an appeal, for instance.
Notwithstanding, the individual also noted for the record that it was difficult to fathom how the filing of an appeal would be possible since no notice of a denial had been received - and that, likewise - no grounds for a rejection of the petition had been served, either.
Mr. Dougherty was asked to open an investigation at the Ombudsman's Office since it was obvious that the immigrant's rights were violated and the issue warranted an investigation within the full letter of the law.
Mr. Doughtery responded by alleging in an impersonal "form-style" communication that the issue was out of his jurisdiction, in spite of the fact an attorney informed the immigrant that the complaint issue was definitely within the realm of Dougherty's job description at Homeland Security.
In retrospect, it is evident that Mr. Dougherty was inclined to hide his head in the sand, and do his superior's dishonest bidding at Homeland Security.
At this point, the immigrant drafted an account of the events in a detailed complaint (drawing attention to the lost documents, the discriminatory conduct of the INS staffer - Robert M. Cowan - and efforts by Cowan to subseqeutnly cover-up INS employee wrongdoing, the retaliatory acts of the INS staff at the National Benefits Center, the failure to give notice of a legally-binding ruling, details about the failure of the INS staff to inform the party of their rights and obligations, and the withholding of legal documents in a bold-faced effort to deny the immigrant their entitlement to due process of Law) and mailed the paperwork to George W. Bush by certified mail via U.S. Post.
A copy of the "complaint" was mailed to Jonathan Scharfen, Acting Director of USCIS; and Mr. Chertoff, the Secretary of Homeland Security.
No one (not Mr. Bush, INS staff, Mr. Chertoff, Jonathan Scharfen, or Michael Dougherty) has responded to the complaint in spite of the fact each has had ample opportunity to give the immigrant the professional courtesy of a reply.
The immigrant is now planning to file a lawsuit on the grounds of rights violations, discrimination, conspiracy, negligence, etc.
The wronged immigrant is also preparing to lodge a formal criminal complaint against all the parties with the FBI on the grounds that there was an unlawful interference by INS staff, a wrongful withholding of legal documents, and discriminatory acts which have ultimately violated the rights of the individual.
That is just one example of the problems that immigrants face.
In another incident, one immigrant was thrown to the ground and beaten up by two officers from the Homeland Security Police Force, ICE.
In fact, the individual suffered serious injuries which required emergency hospital care.
When the immigrant mailed a certified letter to Mr. Chertoff to apprise his office of the facts and to request the name of the ICE officers involved in the incident so an appropriate criminal complaint could be filed, Mr. Chertoff ignored the comunication. In fact, to this day, the Secretary of Homeland Security has never responded to the individual in any good-faith effort to resolve the issues.
Yet, Mr. Chertoff appears on National TV, and acts for all-the-world as if he is a compassionate caring individual who is concerned about the welfare of immigrants, their right to due process, and entitlement to all the privileges their status affords them as legal residents of the United States.
But, the truth of the matter is, Chertoff doesn't give a sh**.
In sum - the foregoing conduct of George W. Bush, Michael Chertoff, Robert M. Cowan, Michael Dougherty, INS Staff, and Jonathan Scharfen - was shocking and reprehensible and flies in the face of a true democracy. The rights of the individual should not only be protected, but guaranteed; most certainly, they should not to be wantonly disregarded and trampled on at the hands of a few incompetent politicians and corrupt officials of the government who misuse their power to conceal their heinous, illegal, despicable conduct.
Maybe it's time that Immigrants - stormed the walls, ignored the government, and went on their merry way - and to he** with Homeland Security, the INS, and the Government of the United States.
After all, the government is not doing anything to address the issues, hasten fairness or justice to displaced immigrants across the land, or even make a reasonable good-faith effort to abide by the U.S. Constitution or the Bill of Rights.
Shame!
Blaise Pascal once wrote,
"Justice and power must be brought together, so that whatever is just may be powerful, and whatever is powerful may be just."
Would you trust this goon?
*E-Mail to George W. Bush (White House)
*E-Mail to Dick Cheney (White House)