Click here for the full story.

It appears that Mr. President is scrambling to get an advantage in the polls by trying to work the pathos of the Hispanic masses. I'm glad that at least the issue of immigrants, as well as undocumented immigrants, is being discussed, and that the discussion is taking course in a positive direction. But I'm doubtful on this new attempt on immigration regulation that Bush has proposed. As I have vocalized with intense fervor and passion, I am not much of a fan of the current immigration-handling department. I didn't like'em when theys were INS, and I don't like'em now when they're BCIS! They work extremely slowly -- I do believe that trained monkeys would be more efficient. Although it does depend on the schedule one is on, receiving a permanent residency (a.k.a. Green Card) can take longer than a decade! My mom has filed for a green card since she is a close relative to a U.S. citizen -- this was in early 2001, when some bogus law called 245i or something to that extent. So it's been nearly 3 years so far, and no news! According to my lawyer (who is not a scamming sneaky lawyer off to rip off money from poor immigrants -- he's worked with my family and extended family for 20 years... in short, a trustworthy man...) we can expect to wait another 5-8 years before getting a response. My visa application had some errors and kinks to be worked out, so it is taking triple the average time of one year. My brother's visa will probably take shorter, but I would still estimate it to take at least 18 months. Possibly 2 years. By which time he will probably not even be a student much longer.

Lack of tactfulness or promptness is not the only problem I see with the current immigration process. Technology falls very behind in this department. Perhaps each worker at the BCIS has a nice imac or whatnot on their desk, but there is a definite lack of communication or completeness to their work. There is always a loophole. They make a lot of errors. A lot of paperworks get lost. Mails get lost, and there is no way for status to be checked, neither by phone, nor through a website. Of course this isn't a company that profits much from processing such applications -- however, as an organization that represents a sector of the U.S. Government -- especially for a country that was founded by immigrants -- needs to be run with class. None of that inefficiency, irresponsibility, and impotence should even be an issue! This isn't Afghanistan! This is the United States of America, the super power nation of earth! Its government needs to run more efficiently. The lack of efficiency alone is shameful enough. Pull your act together, dammit. And please, stop embarrassing yourself!