Birthright Citizenship-NYT and John McCain

The NY Times seems determined to place a Democratic President in 08 is desperately trying to discredit the Republican front runner Sen. John McCain. Right on the heels of their accusation that Sen. McCain had an improper relationship with a female lobbyist 8 years ago, comes a new assertion that Sen McCain was born in the Panama Canal Zone and therefore may not be a "natural born Citizen" of the US. Although Art II Sec I of the US Constitution requires the President to be a "natural born citizen" this issue was never litigated and thus has never been defined by any court of law. John McCain's parents, like him and like his son served in the military, and McCain was born in an US Military base in the Panama Canal Zone. He was a natural born child, born of natural born citizens at the time of his birth. The Panama Canal Zone was a US territory when McCain was born in 1936.
"It's very clear that (the idea that) an American born in a territory of the United States whose father is serving in the military would not be eligible for the presidency of the United States is certainly not something our founding fathers envisioned" McCain said. Historical precedents support him.
Why can we not recognize the children of American army, who is serving our country as natural born citizens of our country. After all, McCain's parents did not go to the Panama Canal on their own volition. They went because the American people sent them there to protect our interests. This distinction is absurd.

What will the NY Times think of next!

L-1A to Permanent Residency

This list is for small business owners who are on L-1A managerial capacity and wants to convert to the Permanent Residency by filing the I-140 under § 203(b)(1)(c) without filing the labor certification. The burden of proof is heightened in order to classify the alien as a “manager” or Executive” and not merely perform day to day activities. In a recent case the Administrative Appeals Office noted, “The petitioning entity, which is involved in the food service industry (a restaurant) does not require or involve the employment of professional employees.” How an administrative unit can make this blanket statement about an industry that they don’t have personal knowledge about is above and beyond me.

Thus the Petitioner who seeks to convert a beneficiary from L-1A to the green card is advised to do the following:

Give a Very detailed job description of the beneficiary’s job duties---merely reciting the statute will not do. The job description should state in details. The activities should be managerial or executive in nature. She should be MANAGE rather than PERFORM the work of the manager

Org chart of US Company should state name and job titles

Description of job duties of all other employees, and educational level

Beneficiary’s previous work experience in home country in details

Support everything with documentary evidence

Note: If the manager is managing a “function” it has to be a specific function and not blanket “all functions”

Latest on FBI Name Check Issue

Good News! According to a memo by Michael Aytes, Associate Director of Domestic Operations at CIS, a case otherwise approvable but which is pending FBI name check for more than 180 days, will be send to production of card. In other words, if your case has been adjudicated and is waiting the FBI name check for more than 180 days, you will receive the green card. If however there is a negative report in the FBI name check later, CIS will issue removal and deportation procedure. The FBI has agreed to complete all name checks within 180 days.

Hopefully this memo, which is not binding, will be followed.

If any of these individuals are indeed dangerous, it is not safe in any case to harbor them for more than 180 days. On the other hand, innocent people will at least have their due process right to a green card.

Hopefully this will be the dawn of a brave new world.

Its the Economy Stupid

The new year brought with it our hold over from last year, the subprime crisis, the weakening USD, and of course the fear of recession. If the US economy declines however, whether its a recession or not, jobs inside the US vanish. Our manufacturing jobs have already been outsources, so are our IT related jobs. And although immigration remains a hot topic in the primary elections, no immigration related bill has been passed by the US Congress since the Bush presidency. The H-1B numbers are pathetically stuck at 65,000 per year, when last year about 200,000 candidates applied. The lottery kicked out 135,000 H-1B applicants last year. All those jobs got outsourced.

Giving tax rebates may not stimulate the economy if that money is not spent. But making sure that jobs remain in the US, by increasing business immigration visa will. And it won't cost the government anything. If only politicians thought about the people instead of votes, the world would be a much better place.

Birthright Citizenship

The Congressional Research Service has just published a paper on birthright citizenship. Many members of the congress want to restrict birthright citizenship, which was present in the US, ever since it was formed. What changed is the skin color of the children of non citizens being born here.

It is my Holiday wish that we look at the world as one world, under one God, indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for ALL.

FBI Name Check Delays to End

According to an article published in Immigration Daily (HTTP://WWW.ILW.COM/IMMIGDAILY/DIGEST/2007,1130.SHTM) FBI name check delays will be ending soon.

When immigrants apply for benefits like Citizenship and Permanent Residency, their names are sent by CIS to the FBI. The FBI then feeds the names through a computer which has a list of all criminals. If the name does not match anything, it clears instantly. However if the name gets a hit, (ie, it has a combination of names similar to the one in their database) then the name gets stuck. An officer would have to physically go in, check and make sure that the beneficiary is not the same one that is on their database, listed as a criminal. Although most names are cleared; due to the sheer number of names and the scarcity of officers, the process takes years.

Until the names clear, the beneficiary cannot get the green card or the citizenship. In the best case scenario, the beneficiary (who in most cases are innocent) has to renew their work and travel permit every year, a costly process, which takes time and money. In the worst case scenario, if the beneficiary has illegal time, she cannot leave the country and is stuck here for years.

What is more dangerous however is that if there really was a criminal whose name got a hit, we would not know that for years, during which time they could plot and execute any number of crimes.

Moreover some individuals would sue, and the courts would force the FBI to work on those individuals' cases. But lawsuits are costly, and those who could not sue, would be pushed further down the waiting list since the FBI had to follow the court order and adjudicate those who sued first.

What is frustrating is that the FBI (probably since the J Edgar Hoover time) is one Government institution which does not answer to the public. Their rotten image does not seem to hamper them a bit.

Hopefully this frightful scenario will end and FBI name checks be done fast.

Diwali Greetings

Today is the Hindu festival of Diwali, and I heartily wish everyone a very happy Diwali. In India we celebrated it with light and fireworks. When I first immigrated here in the 80s, few people had heard of Diwali. The day came and went, without so much as a faint sound of firecracker echoing from distant India. So much has changed in these years. During my kids high school years their non religious private school started celebrating the festival. The City of Sugar Land, TX started hosting a Diwali celebration in their City Hall, much the same way as a Christmas tree lighting ceremony. I find Diwali cards at my local Walgreens.

The reason for this prominence is that the number of Indian American have grown in the past few years, due to the fact that India has some of the most qualified software engineers, and the whole world needs them. Our numbers rose from 1700 in 1900 to 1.1 million in 1997. (This number is still 1/300 of our population). So the obvious question is what have we, Indian Americans given back to America?

We represent over 40% in Silicon Valley, and generate more than $200 billion worth of business in the US. In 1997 31,000 of our children (USCs of Indian origin) were enrolled in colleges. The total number of Asians in the ivy leagues (I could not find statistics for Indian students) was 7.1% and probably none of them got admission through legacy or affirmative action. And anyone who is in medicine knows that quite a few of their classmates are Indian Americans. "Paging Dr. Gupta" is a common saying in US hospitals.

Yet numbers only tell half the story. What we Indian immigrants brought with us is our values. My own two children are in the ivys. While the majority of American school children roamed the malls on week ends, my children studied. While the others played video games, mine played chess or piano. However even though they are in ivys, I cannot ask them to become lawyers, when the American Bar Association acknowledges that there are very few minority partners in big law firms. How can my children witness their lower qualified white male colleagues been given the choice spots, in a society that still judges them "by the color of their skin," and not "by the content of their character?"

And yet we, Indian Americans forge ahead. We ask not what America can do for us, but we do what we can to improve the American economy in terms of wealth and brain power. And if you've been reading this blog until now, thinking that immigrants come and mess up our country, we only ask that you think again.