Mens Rea

Naturalization to take up to 3 years

USICS has suggested that, due to a surge in the number of Naturalization applications, the processing times are going to be substantially increased. Instead of a 7-9 month process, it is likely that it will be 18-24 months.

In his testimony before the House committee, Gonzalez said: “This surge will have a serious impact on application processing times for the next couple of years. As a result, based on our response plan, most customers will wait much longer to have their applications completed. As we have reported, the average processing time for naturalization applications has increased from the current average of seven months or less to approximately 18 months. Family-based adjustment-of-status applications increased from the current average of six months or less to 12 months. Our two-year response plan will help us accomplish reducing processing times to six months by the third quarter of Fiscal Year 2010.

Director Gonzalez has suggested that the delay is due to the dramatic increase in the filing fees as well as political uncertainty. However another possibility is that immigration attorneys are advocating naturalization far more than in years passed due to growing anti-immigrant sentiment that is sweeping the US as well as strict measures that impact permanent residents such as the PATRIOT ACT. It is far more common today, than in years passed, for a permanent resident to be deported and the only true guard against this is naturalization.

UPDATE: It now seems that it may take up to three years.

For all the false rhetoric from the anti-immigration crowd about people waiting their turn to naturalize legally, we seem to be increasing the roadblocks for them.

Oklahoma Passes the Toughest Immigration Laws

The Oklahoma legislature passed a sweeping new law that many are suggesting is the toughest against illegal immigrants in the nation.

One quote stands out "You don't have to round up 20 million {which is 9 million more than most experts have estimated} aliens," Berman said. "Stop the two free benefits you're giving them-free health care and free education- and they'll go back across the Rio Grande."

It is important for us to correct the misleading elements of this. No illegal immigrant is entitled to any means-based assistance such as Medicaid, Medicare, Welfare or any other service. If people hear otherwise they are incorrect.

Colin Powell: a tacit endorsement of Obama?

Colin Powell, speaking with Wolf Blitzer, had this to say about Obama:

“I will ultimately vote for the person I believe brings to the American people the kind of vision the American people want to see for the next four years,” he said. “A vision that reaches out to the rest of the world, that starts to restore confidence in America, that starts to restore favorable ratings to America. Frankly, we've lost a lot in recent years.”

Obviously he is not endorsing yet, but this echos my previous post wherein I suggested that policy-wise there is not a large difference between Obama and Clinton. However, in the area of who could gain credibility in the eyes of the world, Obama, in my not-so-humble opinion, is the clear choice.

Aggressively Correcting Propaganda

You know this election season is exciting. Never in my life, or perhaps even in my parent's lifetime, have we seen such a wide-open contest among both parties. I will have no issue saying that my guy, John Edwards, gracefully bowed out. I have always liked Edwards and he singled-handedly moved the debate on the Democratic side to focus more on the rights and issues impacting ordinary working people. Although I am not working class, nor is any of my family, I was heavily influenced by my grandfather, a proud socialist, to look at the plight of the working man (or woman). That how we treat the everyday worker is a true reflection of the society we are. In so doing, if he had lived another decade, he would have been appalled.

When Edwards dropped out, I was left at a loss on who to vote for. To me there is not that much difference in terms of policy between the two. Hillary has a far more progressive and detailed healthcare plan while Obama has a better plan for Iraq. In general they are the same. However, after some soul searching, I am making my decision on a very unacademic perspective. While watching Obama's speeches, I got goosebumps. I felt proud to be an American. With Hillary, I am happy that we are not having George W., but she does not tickle my fancy. Obama has the ability to inspire. I suppose this is what made the youth flock towards RFK in 1968. He, singlehandedly has the ability to move this country past its racial wounds of old and into the the modern era. In so doing, he can show to the world, once again, that in America, anyone can be president. I am certainly looking forward to having a female president as well, but at the moment, Obama is far more about change than Clinto.

Going back to the title of this post, I keep on hearing from ignorant, stupid morons about Obama being a muslim. If I hear that again, I am going to petition them into the psychiatric hospital for being psychotic. They listen to this rhetoric and the emails that circulate and they believe it. Stupid stupid stupid people.