bombaysardar
07-16 09:08 AM
see Greg Siskind's blog :
http://blogs.ilw.com/gregsiskind/
An alert reader sent me the following this morning. Miriam Jordan of the WSJ is reporting
Looking to resolve a messy immigration tangle, the U.S. government is close to announcing that it will accept at least some applications for work-based green cards that were filed by thousands of skilled workers in early July at the government's invitation and then abruptly rejected.
This would be hugely disappointing news if true and, according to a source, this was NOT the deal on the table over the weekend. It also will fail to address the three crises facing USCIS:
- fighting multiple lawsuits including at least two class action matters
- staving off congressional hearings and the release of embarrassing documents
- answering press inquiries over why USCIS skipped security clearances during a time when the US is under threat of a major terrorist attack
One would hope that common sense would outweigh USCIS' anti-immigrant instincts. Like an addict that's out of control, it's time for an intervention.
http://blogs.ilw.com/gregsiskind/
An alert reader sent me the following this morning. Miriam Jordan of the WSJ is reporting
Looking to resolve a messy immigration tangle, the U.S. government is close to announcing that it will accept at least some applications for work-based green cards that were filed by thousands of skilled workers in early July at the government's invitation and then abruptly rejected.
This would be hugely disappointing news if true and, according to a source, this was NOT the deal on the table over the weekend. It also will fail to address the three crises facing USCIS:
- fighting multiple lawsuits including at least two class action matters
- staving off congressional hearings and the release of embarrassing documents
- answering press inquiries over why USCIS skipped security clearances during a time when the US is under threat of a major terrorist attack
One would hope that common sense would outweigh USCIS' anti-immigrant instincts. Like an addict that's out of control, it's time for an intervention.
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rbalaji5
02-09 04:07 PM
Thanks Life2live,
Could you shed some more light to extend without going out of country. I dont want to go through the same process which I did for H1B extension (thru I-129) due to the recent amendment.
I live in California now.
Could you shed some more light to extend without going out of country. I dont want to go through the same process which I did for H1B extension (thru I-129) due to the recent amendment.
I live in California now.
newuser
05-05 12:23 PM
Subscription Date: May 5, 2009
Time: 09:02:11 PDT
Status: Completed
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Subscription Terms:
$25.00 USD
Time: 09:02:11 PDT
Status: Completed
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Subscription Terms:
$25.00 USD
2011 human digestive system diagram
walking_dude
11-21 11:49 AM
Well, the majority of cubans coming in are families of those US citizens. It's what the antis call disparagingly as "Chain Immigration".
And, if you are missing it, those coming in as refugees are seen as "future vote bank" once they get citizenship. Similar to Bangladeshi immigrants in West Bengal.
And, if you are missing it, those coming in as refugees are seen as "future vote bank" once they get citizenship. Similar to Bangladeshi immigrants in West Bengal.
more...
LookingForGC
12-09 02:13 AM
by the way, I forgot to mention that I was in India when my GC was adjudicated on Oct 22.
At the immigration POE, I told the officer that my GC was granted while I was away. They took me to a room, I waited for 10 minutes, they checked on their system and later told me that I'm good to enter on GC. I looked at my passport where they had canceled my H1 visa and stamped LPR on the immigration stamp which stands for Legal Permanent Resident.
So, no probs returning to the U.S. I even took the liberty to stand in the GC/ citizen Q at the airport :D
Congratulations!
Good to know this info. Best wishes!
At the immigration POE, I told the officer that my GC was granted while I was away. They took me to a room, I waited for 10 minutes, they checked on their system and later told me that I'm good to enter on GC. I looked at my passport where they had canceled my H1 visa and stamped LPR on the immigration stamp which stands for Legal Permanent Resident.
So, no probs returning to the U.S. I even took the liberty to stand in the GC/ citizen Q at the airport :D
Congratulations!
Good to know this info. Best wishes!
eastindia
09-14 02:18 PM
There are less than 1000 replies in the I-485 voting thread and no money is required...how do you plan to sell 20K tickets to only a few "active" members?
I agree with you. On that thread people are complaining that they should not have to register to vote. How do you expect them to spend time taking out their credit card, entering the 16 digits using keyboard and hit the submit button really hard.
You are asking Desis to give $10. Forget it. They would spend $10 on Mango Lassi for themselves.
I agree with you. On that thread people are complaining that they should not have to register to vote. How do you expect them to spend time taking out their credit card, entering the 16 digits using keyboard and hit the submit button really hard.
You are asking Desis to give $10. Forget it. They would spend $10 on Mango Lassi for themselves.
more...
Abhinaym
04-24 11:53 AM
Anyone else get an update on their lottery?
2010 Human+digestive+system+
prinive
03-28 08:35 PM
Any one else ....:o
more...
MYGCBY2010
07-27 04:21 PM
I had filed FOIA request to USCIS requesting a copy of I140 approval notice. My I140 was approved after which I changed employer. I need I140 approval notice to keep my original priority date.
But after filing G639, I got a response back from USCIS saying the case has been sent to DoS for visa approval and that I should contact DoS directly regarding the case.
Also remember, G639 form is for FOIA request for USCIS only.
You need to file a letter to DoS (google "DOS + foia" and you would see format of the letter)
Other than this,I have also filed Form I824 (Action on approved petition) with $200 filing fees requesting I140 approval from USCIS. I guess looking at the processing time, I will have to wait for another 6 months before I hear back from USCIS
Did you put in your A# OR THE Petition Number 3 in that form. Please respond.
But after filing G639, I got a response back from USCIS saying the case has been sent to DoS for visa approval and that I should contact DoS directly regarding the case.
Also remember, G639 form is for FOIA request for USCIS only.
You need to file a letter to DoS (google "DOS + foia" and you would see format of the letter)
Other than this,I have also filed Form I824 (Action on approved petition) with $200 filing fees requesting I140 approval from USCIS. I guess looking at the processing time, I will have to wait for another 6 months before I hear back from USCIS
Did you put in your A# OR THE Petition Number 3 in that form. Please respond.
hair house digestive system diagram
mayurcreation
04-18 08:11 AM
Date:
Dear Sir or Madam:
We are writing to confirm that Mr. XXXX was previously employed by our organization from date to date in the position of Programmer Analyst.
In the position of Programmer Analyst, Mr. XXX was responsible for extensive analyze, design, develop, programming and testing software application using C#, VB.NET, ASP.NET, ADO.NET, from resume etc....
During his tenure he had worked for Client Name1, Client Name2, Client Name3 and Client Name4 clients.
Mr. XXX was employed throughout on a full-time basis, 40 hours per week.
Very truly yours,
(Signature)
Name
Title
Dear Sir or Madam:
We are writing to confirm that Mr. XXXX was previously employed by our organization from date to date in the position of Programmer Analyst.
In the position of Programmer Analyst, Mr. XXX was responsible for extensive analyze, design, develop, programming and testing software application using C#, VB.NET, ASP.NET, ADO.NET, from resume etc....
During his tenure he had worked for Client Name1, Client Name2, Client Name3 and Client Name4 clients.
Mr. XXX was employed throughout on a full-time basis, 40 hours per week.
Very truly yours,
(Signature)
Name
Title
more...
ilanbenatar
04-25 12:17 PM
Thanks man, appreciate your quick response.
Glad to hear you got your visa :) was it hard and strenious?
I do know that the standards for the film & TV industry are tougher, but I think I'll go for the O and not the EB1 which sounds like a lottery.
Best,
Ilan
Glad to hear you got your visa :) was it hard and strenious?
I do know that the standards for the film & TV industry are tougher, but I think I'll go for the O and not the EB1 which sounds like a lottery.
Best,
Ilan
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Hope_GC
05-21 06:28 PM
Good Sense of Humor :)
July 2009
July 2010
July 2011
July 2012...or
By the way things are moving backwards, We will be awarded GC posthumously in a Rose Garden Ceremony by the President (who will be my son since he was born here and eligible to be come President. He will be contesting elections in 2060 under 'American Nava Nirman Sena' Ticket).
July 2009
July 2010
July 2011
July 2012...or
By the way things are moving backwards, We will be awarded GC posthumously in a Rose Garden Ceremony by the President (who will be my son since he was born here and eligible to be come President. He will be contesting elections in 2060 under 'American Nava Nirman Sena' Ticket).
more...
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apb
09-16 01:30 PM
Bump
tattoo human digestive system diagram
kondur_007
08-21 06:28 PM
I have a strange situation where I was thinking of AC21 all the while since January (Jul 02 Filer, TSC with Receipt# SRC 0722...).
Now, I finally made my mind and about to get an offer (after labor day, they say).
The lawyer says "don't think about AC21 now, because most probably your GC will be here within 3 months"
My PD is July 31st, 2006.
Dilemma: I don't want to screw up (or stretch the case un-necessarily) by changing employment just in case if there is an RFE. But then, I have to stay with my current employer for 6+ months AFTER GC as well, to be able to prove "permanent employment" intent.
please advise if the timing (within 3 months) makes sense.
Please also shed light on the permanent intent thing .
Many thanks
I am not a lawyer, but this is my honest opinion:
If your I140 is approved, go ahead and do AC21. On a long run you will be much better off. Odds are, your GC will take a while and you will get stuck with an employer you dont want to work with long term. So go ahead and do AC21 ASAP before GC gets approved. As long as you invoke AC21 (date when you mail AC21 papers to USCIS or document it with your lawyer or accept the new job) BEFORE the approval of you GC, you will just be fine.
Good Luck.
Now, I finally made my mind and about to get an offer (after labor day, they say).
The lawyer says "don't think about AC21 now, because most probably your GC will be here within 3 months"
My PD is July 31st, 2006.
Dilemma: I don't want to screw up (or stretch the case un-necessarily) by changing employment just in case if there is an RFE. But then, I have to stay with my current employer for 6+ months AFTER GC as well, to be able to prove "permanent employment" intent.
please advise if the timing (within 3 months) makes sense.
Please also shed light on the permanent intent thing .
Many thanks
I am not a lawyer, but this is my honest opinion:
If your I140 is approved, go ahead and do AC21. On a long run you will be much better off. Odds are, your GC will take a while and you will get stuck with an employer you dont want to work with long term. So go ahead and do AC21 ASAP before GC gets approved. As long as you invoke AC21 (date when you mail AC21 papers to USCIS or document it with your lawyer or accept the new job) BEFORE the approval of you GC, you will just be fine.
Good Luck.
more...
pictures digestive system diagram for
diptam
02-18 05:36 PM
Look, the law is that the H1B employer must pay the promised LCA to the employee where he/she is in Project or out of Project or playing or vacationing or training .... As long as the employer doesn't terminate the employment they are supposed to pay the minimum wage.
If they don't pay and neither terminate - its a illegal thing. I completely understand what you are asking :)
when a person is on H1B and out of project and no paystubs, Will there be any issue with 485 processing.
If they don't pay and neither terminate - its a illegal thing. I completely understand what you are asking :)
when a person is on H1B and out of project and no paystubs, Will there be any issue with 485 processing.
dresses system diagram labeled.
ganguteli
04-23 09:24 AM
Focus on your goal. Emotions may not take you there.
If I am in your place, i wont argue with that lawyer. I will try to get full co-operation from that lawyer, and make him file another LC, after proper review from your side. Obviously you need support from employer also.
It is your choice. And yes you can file legal case against law firm. But then what?
Dude,
Stop having a fake profile with fake dates.
Fill a correct profile or not have any date in your profile.
You say you got your Labor from Atlanta in 01/04/2004 approved. Perm was not even there in 2004.
Current GC Processing Stage
N/A
Priority Date
Before 2000
Green Card Category
EB2
Nationality
India
Country of Chargeability
India
Service Center
California
Labor Type
Regular
Perm Center
Atlanta
Labor Approval Date
01/04/2004
I140-I485 Concurrent Filing
Yes
I140 Mailed Date
08/02/2004
I140 Filing Type
Regular
July 2007 Filer
No
Adjustment of Status Application Type
Adjustment of Status (I-485)
Application Status
Approved
I485 Approval Date
08/06/2006
If I am in your place, i wont argue with that lawyer. I will try to get full co-operation from that lawyer, and make him file another LC, after proper review from your side. Obviously you need support from employer also.
It is your choice. And yes you can file legal case against law firm. But then what?
Dude,
Stop having a fake profile with fake dates.
Fill a correct profile or not have any date in your profile.
You say you got your Labor from Atlanta in 01/04/2004 approved. Perm was not even there in 2004.
Current GC Processing Stage
N/A
Priority Date
Before 2000
Green Card Category
EB2
Nationality
India
Country of Chargeability
India
Service Center
California
Labor Type
Regular
Perm Center
Atlanta
Labor Approval Date
01/04/2004
I140-I485 Concurrent Filing
Yes
I140 Mailed Date
08/02/2004
I140 Filing Type
Regular
July 2007 Filer
No
Adjustment of Status Application Type
Adjustment of Status (I-485)
Application Status
Approved
I485 Approval Date
08/06/2006
more...
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Roger Binny
05-12 10:05 PM
First trying infopass is the right idea, even if you contact congress man and senators they may ask you to go through info pass first.
Google your statename and senators you should get the list, its not hard to find their home pages.
These are my opinons.
By the ways what is the reason they cited when the EB2 I-140 was denied?
Google your statename and senators you should get the list, its not hard to find their home pages.
These are my opinons.
By the ways what is the reason they cited when the EB2 I-140 was denied?
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GCWhru
07-16 02:50 PM
"Processing Date" means thay have touched all the files before that - from approval point of view (this is not just FP or Name Checks). This could be like - officer has seen every page of application and put his remarks related to approval.
They also continue to work beyond Processing Dates - our experience with EAD proves that.
Thanks for your reply. If the processing date is July 17, on what basis they are selecting files which has reciept date July 30, Is there any exception for Current cases? If the case is current, they can pick that file regardless of receipt date (not considering processing date)?
They also continue to work beyond Processing Dates - our experience with EAD proves that.
Thanks for your reply. If the processing date is July 17, on what basis they are selecting files which has reciept date July 30, Is there any exception for Current cases? If the case is current, they can pick that file regardless of receipt date (not considering processing date)?
hairstyles human digestive system diagram
gc_on_demand
07-19 11:33 AM
Does any one on this forum know under what section of law family to emp based spill over happens ? Last year DOS allocated some 10k family visas ( unused) to emp quota but it was distributed.
Just checking if this allocation is by book of law or interpretation of DOS based on some law. There are some chances that this year family based quota could be more and if DOS make them to fall down from Eb1 -- > Eb2 --> Eb3 -- > Eb4 -- > Eb5. then it could make C for all EB2 and those visas can fall down to Eb3 and this way in Oct 2010 atleast EB3 India get some 10-15 k extra visas. but if DOS allocate them across all category from day one then Eb2 row and Eb1 , 4, 5 keep consuming them and during last quarter spill over come down less..
Lets find out if there is any thing in law.
Just checking if this allocation is by book of law or interpretation of DOS based on some law. There are some chances that this year family based quota could be more and if DOS make them to fall down from Eb1 -- > Eb2 --> Eb3 -- > Eb4 -- > Eb5. then it could make C for all EB2 and those visas can fall down to Eb3 and this way in Oct 2010 atleast EB3 India get some 10-15 k extra visas. but if DOS allocate them across all category from day one then Eb2 row and Eb1 , 4, 5 keep consuming them and during last quarter spill over come down less..
Lets find out if there is any thing in law.
GodHelpUs
03-21 10:48 AM
I am really shocked on looking at this article.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/21/nyregion/21immigrant.html?hp
An Agent, a Green Card, and a Demand for Sex
Article Tools Sponsored By
By NINA BERNSTEIN
Published: March 21, 2008
No problems so far, the immigration agent told the American citizen and his 22-year-old Colombian wife at her green card interview in December. After he stapled one of their wedding photos to her application for legal permanent residency, he had just one more question: What was her cellphone number?
Skip to next paragraph
Enlarge This Image
Uli Seit for The New York Times
Isaac R. Baichu, 46, an adjudicator for the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, was arrested after he met with a green card applicant at the Flagship Restaurant, a diner in Queens. He is charged with coercing oral sex from her.
Audio A Secret Recording
Enlarge This Image
Uli Seit for The New York Times
The Flagship Restaurant, where Mr. Baichu met with a green card applicant.
The calls from the agent started three days later. He hinted, she said, at his power to derail her life and deport her relatives, alluding to a brush she had with the law before her marriage. He summoned her to a private meeting. And at noon on Dec. 21, in a parked car on Queens Boulevard, he named his price � not realizing that she was recording everything on the cellphone in her purse.
�I want sex,� he said on the recording. �One or two times. That�s all. You get your green card. You won�t have to see me anymore.�
She reluctantly agreed to a future meeting. But when she tried to leave his car, he demanded oral sex �now,� to �know that you�re serious.� And despite her protests, she said, he got his way.
The 16-minute recording, which the woman first took to The New York Times and then to the Queens district attorney, suggests the vast power of low-level immigration law enforcers, and a growing desperation on the part of immigrants seeking legal status. The aftermath, which included the arrest of an immigration agent last week, underscores the difficulty and danger of making a complaint, even in the rare case when abuse of power may have been caught on tape.
No one knows how widespread sexual blackmail is, but the case echoes other instances of sexual coercion that have surfaced in recent years, including agents criminally charged in Atlanta, Miami and Santa Ana, Calif. And it raises broader questions about the system�s vulnerability to corruption at a time when millions of noncitizens live in a kind of legal no-man�s land, increasingly fearful of seeking the law�s protection.
The agent arrested last week, Isaac R. Baichu, 46, himself an immigrant from Guyana, handled some 8,000 green card applications during his three years as an adjudicator in the Garden City, N.Y., office of United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, part of the federal Department of Homeland Security. He pleaded not guilty to felony and misdemeanor charges of coercing the young woman to perform oral sex, and of promising to help her secure immigration papers in exchange for further sexual favors. If convicted, he will face up to seven years in prison.
His agency has suspended him with pay, and the inspector general of Homeland Security is reviewing his other cases, a spokesman said Wednesday. Prosecutors, who say they recorded a meeting between Mr. Baichu and the woman on March 11 at which he made similar demands for sex, urge any other victims to come forward.
Money, not sex, is the more common currency of corruption in immigration, but according to Congressional testimony in 2006 by Michael Maxwell, former director of the agency�s internal investigations, more than 3,000 backlogged complaints of employee misconduct had gone uninvestigated for lack of staff, including 528 involving criminal allegations.
The agency says it has tripled its investigative staff since then, and counts only 165 serious complaints pending. But it stopped posting an e-mail address and phone number for such complaints last year, said Jan Lane, chief of security and integrity, because it lacks the staff to cull the thousands of mostly irrelevant messages that resulted. Immigrants, she advised, should report wrongdoing to any law enforcement agency they trust.
The young woman in Queens, whose name is being withheld because the authorities consider her the victim of a sex crime, did not even tell her husband what had happened. Two weeks after the meeting in the car, finding no way to make a confidential complaint to the immigration agency and afraid to go to the police, she and two older female relatives took the recording to The Times.
Reasons to Worry
A slim, shy woman who looks like a teenager, she said she had spent recent months baby-sitting for relatives in Queens, crying over the deaths of her two brothers back in Cali, Colombia, and longing for the right stamp in her passport � one that would let her return to the United States if she visited her family.
She came to the United States on a tourist visa in 2004 and overstayed. When she married an American citizen a year ago, the law allowed her to apply to �adjust� her illegal status. But unless her green card application was approved, she could not visit her parents or her brothers� graves and then legally re-enter the United States. And if her application was denied, she would face deportation.
She had another reason to be fearful, and not only for herself. About 15 months ago, she said, an acquaintance hired her and two female relatives in New York to carry $12,000 in cash to the bank. The three women, all living in the country illegally, were arrested on the street by customs officers apparently acting on a tip in a money-laundering investigation. After determining that the women had no useful information, the officers released them.
But the closed investigation file had showed up in the computer when she applied for a green card, Mr. Baichu told her in December; until he obtained the file and dealt with it, her application would not be approved. If she defied him, she feared, he could summon immigration enforcement agents to take her relatives to detention.
So instead of calling the police, she turned on the video recorder in her cellphone, put the phone in her purse and walked to meet the agent. Two family members said they watched anxiously from their parked car as she disappeared behind the tinted windows of his red Lexus.
�We were worried that the guy would take off, take her away and do something to her,� the woman�s widowed sister-in-law said in Spanish.
As the recorder captured the agent�s words and a lilting Guyanese accent, he laid out his terms in an easy, almost paternal style. He would not ask too much, he said: sex �once or twice,� visits to his home in the Bronx, perhaps a link to other Colombians who needed his help with their immigration problems.
In shaky English, the woman expressed reluctance, and questioned how she could be sure he would keep his word.
�If I do it, it�s like very hard for me, because I have my husband, and I really fall in love with him,� she said.
The agent insisted that she had to trust him. �I wouldn�t ask you to do something for me if I can�t do something for you, right?� he said, and reasoned, �Nobody going to help you for nothing,� noting that she had no money.
He described himself as the single father of a 10-year-old daughter, telling her, �I need love, too,� and predicting, �You will get to like me because I�m a nice guy.�
Repeatedly, she responded �O.K.,� without conviction. At one point he thanked her for showing up, saying, �I know you feel very scared.�
Finally, she tried to leave. �Let me go because I tell my husband I come home,� she said.
His reply, the recording shows, was a blunt demand for oral sex.
�Right now? No!� she protested. �No, no, right now I can�t.�
He insisted, cajoled, even empathized. �I came from a different country, too,� he said. �I got my green card just like you.�
Then, she said, he grabbed her. During the speechless minute that follows on the recording, she said she yielded to his demand out of fear that he would use his authority against her.
How Much Corruption?
The charges against Mr. Baichu, who became a United States citizen in 1991 and earns roughly $50,000 a year, appear to be part of a larger pattern, according to government records and interviews.
Mr. Maxwell, the immigration agency�s former chief investigator, told Congress in 2006 that internal corruption was �rampant,� and that employees faced constant temptations to commit crime.
�It is only a small step from granting a discretionary waiver of an eligibility rule to asking for a favor or taking a bribe in exchange for granting that waiver,� he contended. �Once an employee learns he can get away with low-level corruption and still advance up the ranks, he or she becomes more brazen.�
�Despite our best efforts there are always people ready to use their position for personal gain or personal pleasure,� said Chris Bentley, a spokesman for Citizenship and Immigration Services. �Our responsibility is to ferret them out.�
When the Queens woman came to The Times with her recording on Jan. 3, she was afraid of retaliation from the agent, and uncertain about making a criminal complaint, though she had an appointment the next day at the Queens district attorney�s office.
Mr. Baichu was arrested as he emerged from the diner and headed to his car, wearing much gold and diamond jewelry, prosecutors said. Later released on $15,000 bail, Mr. Baichu referred calls for comment to his lawyer, Sally Attia, who said he did not have authority to grant or deny green card petitions without his supervisor�s approval.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/21/nyregion/21immigrant.html?hp
An Agent, a Green Card, and a Demand for Sex
Article Tools Sponsored By
By NINA BERNSTEIN
Published: March 21, 2008
No problems so far, the immigration agent told the American citizen and his 22-year-old Colombian wife at her green card interview in December. After he stapled one of their wedding photos to her application for legal permanent residency, he had just one more question: What was her cellphone number?
Skip to next paragraph
Enlarge This Image
Uli Seit for The New York Times
Isaac R. Baichu, 46, an adjudicator for the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, was arrested after he met with a green card applicant at the Flagship Restaurant, a diner in Queens. He is charged with coercing oral sex from her.
Audio A Secret Recording
Enlarge This Image
Uli Seit for The New York Times
The Flagship Restaurant, where Mr. Baichu met with a green card applicant.
The calls from the agent started three days later. He hinted, she said, at his power to derail her life and deport her relatives, alluding to a brush she had with the law before her marriage. He summoned her to a private meeting. And at noon on Dec. 21, in a parked car on Queens Boulevard, he named his price � not realizing that she was recording everything on the cellphone in her purse.
�I want sex,� he said on the recording. �One or two times. That�s all. You get your green card. You won�t have to see me anymore.�
She reluctantly agreed to a future meeting. But when she tried to leave his car, he demanded oral sex �now,� to �know that you�re serious.� And despite her protests, she said, he got his way.
The 16-minute recording, which the woman first took to The New York Times and then to the Queens district attorney, suggests the vast power of low-level immigration law enforcers, and a growing desperation on the part of immigrants seeking legal status. The aftermath, which included the arrest of an immigration agent last week, underscores the difficulty and danger of making a complaint, even in the rare case when abuse of power may have been caught on tape.
No one knows how widespread sexual blackmail is, but the case echoes other instances of sexual coercion that have surfaced in recent years, including agents criminally charged in Atlanta, Miami and Santa Ana, Calif. And it raises broader questions about the system�s vulnerability to corruption at a time when millions of noncitizens live in a kind of legal no-man�s land, increasingly fearful of seeking the law�s protection.
The agent arrested last week, Isaac R. Baichu, 46, himself an immigrant from Guyana, handled some 8,000 green card applications during his three years as an adjudicator in the Garden City, N.Y., office of United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, part of the federal Department of Homeland Security. He pleaded not guilty to felony and misdemeanor charges of coercing the young woman to perform oral sex, and of promising to help her secure immigration papers in exchange for further sexual favors. If convicted, he will face up to seven years in prison.
His agency has suspended him with pay, and the inspector general of Homeland Security is reviewing his other cases, a spokesman said Wednesday. Prosecutors, who say they recorded a meeting between Mr. Baichu and the woman on March 11 at which he made similar demands for sex, urge any other victims to come forward.
Money, not sex, is the more common currency of corruption in immigration, but according to Congressional testimony in 2006 by Michael Maxwell, former director of the agency�s internal investigations, more than 3,000 backlogged complaints of employee misconduct had gone uninvestigated for lack of staff, including 528 involving criminal allegations.
The agency says it has tripled its investigative staff since then, and counts only 165 serious complaints pending. But it stopped posting an e-mail address and phone number for such complaints last year, said Jan Lane, chief of security and integrity, because it lacks the staff to cull the thousands of mostly irrelevant messages that resulted. Immigrants, she advised, should report wrongdoing to any law enforcement agency they trust.
The young woman in Queens, whose name is being withheld because the authorities consider her the victim of a sex crime, did not even tell her husband what had happened. Two weeks after the meeting in the car, finding no way to make a confidential complaint to the immigration agency and afraid to go to the police, she and two older female relatives took the recording to The Times.
Reasons to Worry
A slim, shy woman who looks like a teenager, she said she had spent recent months baby-sitting for relatives in Queens, crying over the deaths of her two brothers back in Cali, Colombia, and longing for the right stamp in her passport � one that would let her return to the United States if she visited her family.
She came to the United States on a tourist visa in 2004 and overstayed. When she married an American citizen a year ago, the law allowed her to apply to �adjust� her illegal status. But unless her green card application was approved, she could not visit her parents or her brothers� graves and then legally re-enter the United States. And if her application was denied, she would face deportation.
She had another reason to be fearful, and not only for herself. About 15 months ago, she said, an acquaintance hired her and two female relatives in New York to carry $12,000 in cash to the bank. The three women, all living in the country illegally, were arrested on the street by customs officers apparently acting on a tip in a money-laundering investigation. After determining that the women had no useful information, the officers released them.
But the closed investigation file had showed up in the computer when she applied for a green card, Mr. Baichu told her in December; until he obtained the file and dealt with it, her application would not be approved. If she defied him, she feared, he could summon immigration enforcement agents to take her relatives to detention.
So instead of calling the police, she turned on the video recorder in her cellphone, put the phone in her purse and walked to meet the agent. Two family members said they watched anxiously from their parked car as she disappeared behind the tinted windows of his red Lexus.
�We were worried that the guy would take off, take her away and do something to her,� the woman�s widowed sister-in-law said in Spanish.
As the recorder captured the agent�s words and a lilting Guyanese accent, he laid out his terms in an easy, almost paternal style. He would not ask too much, he said: sex �once or twice,� visits to his home in the Bronx, perhaps a link to other Colombians who needed his help with their immigration problems.
In shaky English, the woman expressed reluctance, and questioned how she could be sure he would keep his word.
�If I do it, it�s like very hard for me, because I have my husband, and I really fall in love with him,� she said.
The agent insisted that she had to trust him. �I wouldn�t ask you to do something for me if I can�t do something for you, right?� he said, and reasoned, �Nobody going to help you for nothing,� noting that she had no money.
He described himself as the single father of a 10-year-old daughter, telling her, �I need love, too,� and predicting, �You will get to like me because I�m a nice guy.�
Repeatedly, she responded �O.K.,� without conviction. At one point he thanked her for showing up, saying, �I know you feel very scared.�
Finally, she tried to leave. �Let me go because I tell my husband I come home,� she said.
His reply, the recording shows, was a blunt demand for oral sex.
�Right now? No!� she protested. �No, no, right now I can�t.�
He insisted, cajoled, even empathized. �I came from a different country, too,� he said. �I got my green card just like you.�
Then, she said, he grabbed her. During the speechless minute that follows on the recording, she said she yielded to his demand out of fear that he would use his authority against her.
How Much Corruption?
The charges against Mr. Baichu, who became a United States citizen in 1991 and earns roughly $50,000 a year, appear to be part of a larger pattern, according to government records and interviews.
Mr. Maxwell, the immigration agency�s former chief investigator, told Congress in 2006 that internal corruption was �rampant,� and that employees faced constant temptations to commit crime.
�It is only a small step from granting a discretionary waiver of an eligibility rule to asking for a favor or taking a bribe in exchange for granting that waiver,� he contended. �Once an employee learns he can get away with low-level corruption and still advance up the ranks, he or she becomes more brazen.�
�Despite our best efforts there are always people ready to use their position for personal gain or personal pleasure,� said Chris Bentley, a spokesman for Citizenship and Immigration Services. �Our responsibility is to ferret them out.�
When the Queens woman came to The Times with her recording on Jan. 3, she was afraid of retaliation from the agent, and uncertain about making a criminal complaint, though she had an appointment the next day at the Queens district attorney�s office.
Mr. Baichu was arrested as he emerged from the diner and headed to his car, wearing much gold and diamond jewelry, prosecutors said. Later released on $15,000 bail, Mr. Baichu referred calls for comment to his lawyer, Sally Attia, who said he did not have authority to grant or deny green card petitions without his supervisor�s approval.
graylensman
10-21 01:07 AM
Hey - you don't build houses with tables so why would you use them on buttons?
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