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<div class="gmail-lead gmail-primary"><h1>Starting today, legal immigrants face new hurdles to citizenship</h1>
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By <a href="http://mynorthwest.com/author/mlewis/" style="font-weight:500"><span>Mike Lewis</span></a><br>
<span class="gmail-small"><span>September 11, 2018 at 11:00 am</span></span>
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<p>Set to take effect today, new changes to U.S.
immigration policies appear likely to block increasing numbers of legal
immigrants from potential citizenship by ratcheting up penalties for
mistakes on applications and then accelerating the process for
deportation, according to immigration experts.</p>
<p><strong>RELATED: <a href="http://mynorthwest.com/1023226/ross-immigration-law/?">Law that is like a garden that hasn’t been weeded in 40 years</a></strong></p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.uscis.gov/news/news-releases/uscis-updates-policy-guidance-certain-requests-evidence-and-notices-intent-deny" target="_blank" rel="noopener">new policy language</a>
— written specifically to trigger on the anniversary of the terrorist
attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 — gives broad authority to U.S. Citizenship
and Immigration Service administrators to deny a legal immigrant’s
application for a green card or citizenship over simple clerical errors.</p><div style="text-align:center">
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<p>“The adjudicators (now) have the capability and, potentially,
encouragement to issue a denial whenever there is something missing,”
said Xiao Wang, co-founder of Seattle’s <a href="https://www.boundless.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Boundless</a> immigration service. “This is a significant change.”</p>
<p>Previously, internal policy encouraged USCIS administrators to work
with applicants when requiring additional documents and requesting
clarification because the lengthy process is increasingly complicated
and, often, English isn’t the primary language of the applicants.</p>
<p>For example, Wang said, under the previous guidelines, if a person
applied for citizenship as a result of marrying a U.S. Citizen and he or
she forgot to include the required marriage certificate, the
application’s administrator would “reject” the application and request
for additional documents.</p>
<p>“The applicant was given a chance to fix the problem,” Wang said.</p>
<p>In 2016, eight million people applied for a green card or
citizenship. About 20 percent – 1.6 million – received requests for
additional documents, according to U.S. immigration service figures.</p><div style="text-align:center">
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<p>But under the new language, the reviewing officer, “has the ability
to deny the application,” outright, Wang said, not only ending the
citizen application process immediately but, as is the case in denials,
also keeping the $1,760 application fee.</p>
<p>“It is not a trivial amount of money. People save for months to afford this.”</p>
<p>The federal government also added new policy language policy stating
that if the application is denied, “the alien is not lawfully present in
the United States” which then can trigger notification to immigration
courts and deportation hearings.</p>
<p>So, in the event of a mistake by the applicant or the government, the
new language has the capacity to eliminate the time to fix a mistake or
add information. And that can trigger a denial. When an application is
denied, the applicant is considered “out of status,” and is targeted for
deportation.</p>
<p>In effect, Wang said, the federal government’s effort to curb illegal
immigration also is sweeping up land blocking legal immigrants who
chose to follow the letter of the law when applying for green cards and
U.S. citizenship.</p><div style="text-align:center">
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<p>“These are people are willing to give up everything to make a great strides in this country,” Wang said.</p>
<p>In fact, it was this sacrifice that led Wang to co-found Boundless in
the first place. Wang, 32, and his family fled to the United States
from China’s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_Revolution">cultural revolution</a> when he was three. Eventually, his family settled in Bothell.</p>
<p>His parents gave up everything to move to the United States and risk
becoming U.S. Citizens. The process, even in pre-Sept. 11 attacks, was
complicated and financially difficult.</p>
<p>As an adult, Wang had the opportunity to create a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/27/technology/tech-roundup-2017.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">low-cost service guide legal immigrants</a> through the process of becoming U.S. citizens. He said Boundless receives 5,000 queries each month for help.</p>
<p>But these immigration language changes, he said, do more harm to the United States than good.</p>
<p>“We have prospered greatly as a nation by having immigrants bring in
new ideas,” he said. “It a core part of what has made us grow as a
country.”</p><div style="text-align:center">
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<p>“What I worry about as someone who loves this country, this along
with other sets of immigration rules will reduce the overall appeal of
coming to the United States.”</p></div>
<br>-- <br><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<br><br> Harold F. Schiffman<br><br>Professor Emeritus of <br> Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <br>Dept. of South Asia Studies <br>University of Pennsylvania<br>Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br><br>Phone: (215) 898-7475<br>Fax: (215) 573-2138 <br><br>Email: <a href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com" target="_blank">haroldfs@gmail.com</a><br><a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/" target="_blank">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/</a> <br><br>-------------------------------------------------</div></div>