🚀 go-pugleaf

On Jan 12, 9:56 pm, Don Gabacho <jpast...@nettaxi.com> wrote:
> Homeland Security Given OK to Use Retirees to Reduce Immigration
> Backlog
>
> WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration has authority to rehire retired
> workers to reduce a backlog of immigration applications that is
> preventing thousands of people from becoming U.S. citizens in time to
> vote in November's elections, a Democratic senator said.
>
> Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., had pressured Citizenship and
> Immigration Services, a division of the Homeland Security Department,
> to seek permission to rehire the retirees. The permission was granted
> Thursday by the Office of Personnel Management.
>
> "This is a welcome breakthrough that has great potential to help sort
> through the backlog of pending applications," Schumer said Friday in a
> statement. "Immigrants who play by the rules and get in line deserve a
> chance at citizenship, not an endless waiting game. Failed planning
> led to this backlog, but this is a smart step that could help fix the
> situation."
>
> Schumer pushed for the retiree hiring after The Associated Press
> reported that a summer spike in immigration applications caused the
> backlog.
>
> During the 2007 fiscal year, 7.7 million applications for citizenship,
> legal residency and other immigration benefits were filed. About 2.5
> million of those were filed in July and August.
>
> The flood of applications came mostly from people applying to be
> citizens or legal residents and who wanted to beat drastic increases
> in filing fees last July. The cost of naturalizing rose from $330 to
> $595, while applying for legal residency increased from $325 to $905.
> A required $70 fingerprinting fee for most applications is now $80.
>
> Citizenship and Immigration Services announced during Thanksgiving
> week that naturalizations of anyone who applied after June 1 would
> take 15 to 18 months. Without additional hires, many immigrants could
> not become citizens, giving them the right to vote, until after the
> Nov. 4 elections.
>
> Citizenship and Immigration Services is deciding how to begin hiring
> the retirees, spokesman Chris Bentley said. Agency Director Emilio
> Gonzalez told Schumer last month the agency has identified 704
> retirees, 469 of whom are in "adjudication-related positions."
> Gonzalez also said the agency has a plan for dealing with the
> application increase to be shared soon.
>
> Linda Springer, director of the Office of Personnel Management, said
> Citizenship and Immigration Services estimates it needs 2,500
> additional employees over the next few months to meet workload
> demands.
>
> The backlog coincided with efforts by immigration groups and others to
> help legal U.S. residents naturalize and register to vote in time for
> November's elections. Some of the groups and those awaiting to be
> citizens have questioned whether the delays are politically motivated,
> which the agency denies.
>
> Schumer wrote a law enacted last year that required the State
> Department to hire retirees in response to an increase in passport
> requests. A January 2006 law requires Americans returning by air from
> Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and Bermuda to present a passport.

Solution, a moritorium on all immigration.

ted