Recently, I received wonderful news that a friend of mine, after passing her citizenship exam 6 years ago (if I recall correctly), is finally going to be naturalized later this month. As a natural-born citizen, I can't possibly describe the feelings that my friend is going through with this news. She has much to give to the United States, but to get there, for a while it seemed the United States government did not want to give her anything.
This does not mean they did not want to give to her specifically, but the issues that she had to deal with would perhaps have discouraged many immigrants from continuing to pursue citizenship (especially if there was a language barrier). It took a US Senator's office to get the ball rolling (or so I think that was it; the good news happened shortly after discussions with the Senator's office. This after 6 years of back and forth between my friend and the immigation agency). Why did it need to take a powerful government official to get this issue straightened out? What changed for the immigration agency? It's almost like a stubborn child who refuses to give up his toy until his mother says so.
It's hard to remember sometimes, but this is supposed to be the place where anyone can come to live in hopes for a better life. Perhaps since the 9/11 attacks, we've become somewhat an isolationist-type country, afraid of anything new, therefore settle into the mindset that everyone is a security threat until proven otherwise. Paranoia is the status quo. It seems one of the objectives of the hijackers has been achieved.
This is just speculation on my part but my friend can probably attest to the paranoia mindset. She was, in my mind, harassed illegally while re-entering the US from her honeymoon abroad. What happened to respect and the presumption that everyone is innocent until proven guilty? It's frustrating to hear about stories like this. I'm glad I haven't gone through that; I might get in trouble, since I tend to speak my mind. But perhaps that's another problem; if I don't show the "respect" that the authorities demand, will I get into trouble? What I think I would do was question why I'm being questioned. Depending on the mood of the officer, that may sound like I'm being defensive of something guilty. Well, it is defensive but its in defense of my reputation, rights, and respect.
Okay, straying a little here. Back to immigration agencies and the problems. I would imagine that part of the problem is that the original Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) was dissolved in 2003 and replaced by a Homeland Security department: Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Part of the stated mission of the USCIS is to "promote national security..." (1) whereas the original INS "protected and enforced the laws of naturalization...". (2) The USCIS mission does go on to say to eliminate the backlog of immigration cases. (1) But the focus here is by promoting national security, does that imply a guilty until proven innocent mindset? Note that the USCIS rolled into the Homeland Securty Department from it's previous home at the Department of Justice. (1) My guess is that the primary role of the immigration agency turned from an law-type view to a security-type view. And this is how it continues today.
I'll post more on this later...
Sources:
1 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Citizenship_and_Immigration_Services
2 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_and_Naturalization_Service
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