STATEMENT OF

PRAKASH KHATRI

CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION SERVICES OMBUDSMAN
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

BEFORE THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON IMMIGRATION, BORDER SECURITY AND CLAIMS

U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY

REGARDING A HEARING ON

“FAMILIES AND BUSINESSES IN LIMBO: THE DETRIMENTAL IMPACT OF THE IMMIGRATION BACKLOG- II”

JUNE 23, 2004

4:00 PM

2141 RAYBURN HOUSE OFFICE BUILDING

Good afternoon Chairman Hostettler, Ranking Member Jackson Lee, and Members of the Subcommittee. My name is Prakash Khatri, and I have the honor of serving as the first Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman at the United States Department of Homeland Security.

As a naturalized citizen myself, I have a deep appreciation for this nation’s immigration history. I believe that the United States still represents the “golden door” for people around the world who share the American Dream and who want to contribute to the cultural richness and economic strength of this country. I am truly honored to serve as the first Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman and to have the opportunity to repay a small amount of the priceless gift that immigration has been to my family and me.

Since my appointment on July 28, 2003, I have worked closely with my fellow leaders at the Department of Homeland Security – DHS – in identifying opportunities for recommending meaningful changes to the existing immigration services system. I have been encouraged in these efforts by the commitment of Secretary Tom Ridge and Deputy Secretary Jim Loy to solve many of the problems that have plagued the legal immigration system. In addition, I have worked with my colleagues at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and they have embarked on a series of pilot programs to test some of the recommendations made by my office.

Before I go into more detail about these recommendations, let me step back a moment and discuss the mission of my office. We have three primary functions, outlined in Section 452 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002.

· First, the Ombudsman’s office assists individuals and employers in resolving problems with USCIS – that is, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

· In addition, we identify areas where individuals and employers are having problems in dealing with USCIS, with an eye towards developing systemic changes that will benefit citizens and immigrants across the board.

· And finally, we propose changes in the administrative practices of USCIS in an effort to avoid and mitigate problems.

In fulfilling this statutory mandate, I am committed to keeping an open mind with respect to innovative solutions, and I will not accept the status quo. The recommendations from my office will promote national security and the integrity of the legal immigration system; they will increase efficiencies in administering citizenship and immigration services; and they will primarily focus on welcoming immigrants while reducing the problems encountered by individuals and employers seeking legal benefits under our laws.

I approach this task in a holistic manner, identifying opportunities broadly, while assigning priorities in order to maximize significant, short-term results. In the first 10 months of my tenure, I have focused my efforts and recommendations primarily on changes to existing policies and procedures rather than on recommending new regulatory or statutory solutions. This approach has resulted in the rapid implementation by USCIS of pilot programs aimed at immediate and dramatic benefits. In the upcoming year, I will introduce additional recommendations of this nature, but will increasingly focus on formulating broader recommendations that will require more time-intensive regulatory, statutory and/or infrastructure modifications and thus must be able to be implemented within the budgetary resources of USCIS.

Let me outline the most pervasive and significant issues that I have identified to date:

· prolonged processing times;

· limited availability of case status information to applicants and beneficiaries;

· immigration benefit fraud, which contributes to processing delays;

· insufficient standardization in processing among the different USCIS district offices and regional service centers; and

· inadequate technology and facilities.

Of the issues identified, clearly the most pervasive problem faced by USCIS is the prolonged processing times or “backlogs.” In the first few weeks, I quickly realized that two-thirds of the volume of work is generated from the six fee-based forms used in three key processes. Thus I focused on these three areas and I recommended three specific initiatives designed to 1) streamline family-based immigrant processing, 2) reengineer the “green card” replacement process, and 3) streamline employment-based immigrant processing.

I discuss these recommendations in depth in my first annual report to Congress, copies of which have been provided to this subcommittee and have been submitted as my written testimony for the record.

In response to these recommendations from my office, USCIS has developed and implemented four corresponding pilot programs. My office is committed to monitoring these new programs to determine their effectiveness at solving the underlying problems, and we hope that the positive new practices can be expanded quickly to improve immigration services nationwide. I would like to highlight one particular new and innovative pilot project being tested by USCIS in Dallas. The current process of adjudicating applications for “green cards” for immediate relatives of United States Citizens is undergoing a dramatic transformation. The pilot project is testing one of my recommendations whereby a process that currently takes from four months in some jurisdictions to as much as three or more years in others, now will take less than 75 days from application to receipt of a “green card.” This will be accomplished in a way that will:

· enhance security by reducing fraud, ineligible applicants and temporary interim documents,

· increase efficiency by reducing the amount of time from a few hours of processing in some jurisdictions to as little as one hour of processing time, and

· dramatically increase customer service by reducing the waiting times and virtually eliminating applications for interim benefits. For many applicants, this program could result in lower total fees because many applicants would no longer have to pay for interim benefit applications such as employment authorization or travel permits.

The pilot program began in May and we expect that as we celebrate our Independence Day in a little over a week, the first immigrants will start receiving their green cards under this new program in Dallas. It is the commitment of Secretary Ridge, Deputy Secretary Loy to backlog reduction and the true spirit of cooperation exhibited by USCIS that needs to be recognized for this effort.

In addition to developing recommendations and preparing the first annual report to Congress, I faced the challenge of establishing a brand new office and laying the groundwork for its effectiveness in the future. After identifying office space, hiring, and training our initial staff, our office created an information collection and processing system in the Ombudsman’s office. This system will provide automated data collection and tracking of customer complaints and concerns, allowing for more efficient identification of the systemic changes needed for the efficient and secure delivery of immigration services.

I have also devoted a substantial amount of time to meeting with key stakeholders. I have visited over 20 USCIS facilities around the country, encouraging input from local managers and staff. I have also met with a wide variety of non-governmental stakeholders, including individuals, community-based organizations, business leaders, immigration advocates, and members of the bar.

During my tenure as CIS Ombudsman over the last 10 months, I have kept in mind the sentiments of President Bush when he said “[a]s a nation that values immigration and depends on it, we should have immigration laws that work and make us proud.” Although considerable progress has been made to that end during the course of the last year, much remains to be done. Continued diligence is required on the part of my office and USCIS. Our shared goal is the creation of more efficient, secure and responsive methods for providing immigration services that respect the dignity and value of individuals while simultaneously protecting us against those who seek to do us harm.

This concludes my prepared remarks. I thank you for the invitation to testify before this subcommittee, and I would be happy to answer any questions.