Leadership Journal

Friday, January 30, 2009

First Week

Thank you for your comments to my first post. I appreciate the encouraging words of welcome.

As expected, my first full week has been busy.

I’ve continued to meet with directors of all seven of the Department’s operating components, visit their headquarters locations, and receive briefings on their activities.

I’ve been impressed by what I’ve seen so far – the caliber of the people who work at this Department, their professionalism, and their commitment to our mission.

As Secretary, I want to ensure that our Department continues to uphold the highest ethical standards. For this reason, I’ve ordered that every incoming DHS employee receive ethics training.

This week, I also sent recommendations to President Obama regarding the winter storms that impacted most of our nation’s Midwest and Northeast. He acted on those recommendations, issuing emergency declarations for Arkansas and Kentucky. This will ensure that federal aid flows to these areas. FEMA has been deeply engaged in this process. It began mobilizing assets and resources well ahead of the storm to ensure timely aid and assistance.

Of course, I’ve been intently focused on preparations for Super Bowl 43, and not just because my home team is in the game.

I spoke directly with our head of security in Tampa and received briefings on the Department’s activities related to the Super Bowl, which are extensive.

Finally, I’ve continued to issue action directives to assess the Department's critical functions and set priorities. We rolled out the final action directive today on immigration – to assess our progress to secure the border, remove criminal aliens from the United States, and improve our legal immigration procedures.

I’m eager to get the results of these assessments in the coming days and weeks, and I look forward to sharing these results with you.

Secretary Napolitano

Labels: , , ,

posted by DHS at 5:17 PM

50 Comments:

  • Welcome Secretrary Nepolitano.

    I am just a regular working class citizen of the United States.

    I am very troubled by the policies of secrecy and outright violations of law that is happening at airports across this country at the hands of TSA screeners under policies implemented by senior staff of that agency. Many of these policies exceed by quiet some margin the legislation and directives that enable TSA.

    I plead with you to give all the attention you can to investigate and determine just how TSA has evolved into the disgusting thing it has become.

    I encourage you to demand resignations from all senior key players.

    Secretary Nepolitano, TSA is out of control, abuse the traveling public and hide behind Sensitive Security Information (SSI) when challenged on the actions they are taking.

    Please make a review of TSA one of your top priorities.

    Respectfully,

    Ronald M. Bonner

    By Blogger RB, At January 30, 2009 7:46 PM  

  • Welcome aboard Secretary Nepolitano,

    Hopefully you will take the time to read not only this blog but your other agency's blogs to get a good handle on what concerns the citizens of our country.

    I am a regular poster on the TSA blog ( tsa.gov/blog ) as such I believe I know RB's concerns well. One particular violation of law he is speaking of, is the fact that the forced ID verification as a criterion for granting access to the sterile area is statutorily illegal according to 49 C.F.R. § 1540.5. ( see definitions of sterile area, screening function and screening area )

    Further more the brand new Secure Flight laws state clearly the only entity I am required to show my ID to is a covered aircraft operator and only then under certain circumstances. ( §1560.105(c) )

    The continued practice of the TSA systematically violating the law is very disturbing to me. If I can’t trust my Government to be on the up and up, do I trust them with my safety? I have passed these concerns on to the TSA’s Chief Legal Counsel Francine Kerner via email, the TSA blog and a complaint filed with the DHS OIG. As of yet I have received no reply on the complaint filed over the summer, nor have we received any satisfactory answer on the blog. This issue has become a mainstay on the blog and we would like it rectified so we can move forward improving the TSA so that it becomes and agency we can be proud of.

    Another concern that has been dismissed by the TSA is the fact that luggage is not secured after screening. I am sure you have read as many stories detailing theft by TSA employees as I have.

    If a thief can remove something from my luggage, a terrorist can surely place something into my luggage. The solution is as simple as an off the shelf, cheap ($5k) strapping machine. So far we have wasted millions on worthless items as the sound and light show for the checkpoint, and faux police uniforms with METAL badges for the TSOs.

    If TSOs are required to be screened before work, how illogical is it to give them a Metal badge that they don’t take off? Slip down to the airport at shift change and see how many times a TSO sets off the metal detector and the TSO is waived on through.

    The TSA is the face of Homeland Security, not FEMA, not ICE or any other agency. More people come in contact with Homeland Security at the airport than any other place. The people of this country want REAL security not security theater. This act of putting a steel door on a grass hut has got to stop.

    If you would like a laundry list of what the people in this country expect and want of the TSA, I challenge you to place a post on the TSA blog and ask. Do this before a new TSA director is chosen.

    Keep in touch with Blogger Bob, you met him earlier this week when he gave the briefing on Public Engagement (blue tie), he has a pretty good bead on what the public is upset about. (Lord knows he has heard it from us.)

    Sincerely

    Michael Cummings AKA Trollkiller

    By Anonymous Trollkiller, At January 31, 2009 12:20 AM  

  • Secretary Napolitano,

    There seems to be slight confusion regarding the spelling of your last name and I truly hope I got it right.

    I commend you on your diligence right out of the gate. During your first week, you mentioned one particular point of action - directing attention to employers of illegal immigrants and not just the illegal immigrants.
    I worked for a company that has employed hundreds of such individuals, over the years, and little or no action has ever been taken against them. I quit that job because of those issues, however, I am still unemployed and now bankrupt. Since no one seems to truly care about it, I guess I should have bought an old typewriter and some blank Social Security cards then made a few extra bucks on the side. But my ethics stood in the way.

    I do wish you the best of luck. You're going to need it, I think.

    By Anonymous CS, At January 31, 2009 12:04 PM  

  • Secretary Napolitano, I see that by using the spelling of your name as posted after your remarks on this page that I also erred and misspelled your name.
    My apologies.
    RB

    By Blogger RB, At January 31, 2009 12:55 PM  

  • Over 11 million adult American citizens can’t find a job… meanwhile approximately
    7 million illegal aliens do have a job! What is wrong with this picture?!

    MAKE E-VERIFY MANDATORY FOR EMPLOYERS. As a Department of Homeland Security, you should not be working against the interests of citizens by delaying this Executive Order to start federal contractors, sub-contractors using E-Verify!

    That will protect American jobs; American workers & their families……..

    By Anonymous Anonymous, At February 1, 2009 1:48 PM  

  • I need to see real sign that you are "serious" about security of the homeland. As in Homeland Security.
    So far, I am afraid I only see you backing off enforcement and taking some worrisome positions.

    I think there are alot of citizens watching to see if you let past "gains" go down the tubes, and reverse the success’s we have made.

    You should not have delayed the E-verify program’s start. That is a very bad sign.

    Thank you.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, At February 1, 2009 1:55 PM  

  • Madam Secretary:

    I am so thankful for your appointment. I feel you are highly qualified and in tune with the needs of your agency.

    Please check into the Federal Protective Police. They abuse people in federal buildings, cause false arrests, inhibit use of services in the buildings by the public, and violate the Americans with Disabilities Act. I believe they are inadequately trained. I think they are inadequately supervised. They certainly do NOT understand the limits of their power and it is highly inappropriate for them to break the law while stating "I'm a federal officer and you have to do whatever I tell you."

    I would very much like to have a meeting with someone of authority over the federal protective services.

    By Anonymous Dr Linda Shelton, At February 1, 2009 3:44 PM  

  • Secretary Napolitano,

    Congratulations and Best wishes for your new job!

    One of the departments of DHS that we deal with, as a legal immigrant, is USCIS. Lately, there were delays in service centers posting its processing time. And the processing time posted is mostly not a true reflection of ground situation. For ex, the I-140 (skilled worker) application processing time (until Nov 30th) shows Jan 16th 08 but petitions filed in August 2007 are still pending. If Service Request is opened, USCIS responds only after 60 to 90 days. This causes lots of anguish and I really hope that you would take up improving the efficiency of USCIS as one of your top priorities.

    I strongly believe that increasing the efficiency of USCIS would result in higher productivity leading to a satisfied/happy customer!

    Sincerely
    S Abdulkareem

    By Blogger crossroads, At February 1, 2009 11:32 PM  

  • Madam Secretary,
    Congratulations on your appointment to the crucial office of the Secretary of Homeland Secretary. Your past achievements are a clear indicator of being fair and balanced on certain sensitive issues such as immigration and at the same time respect the law of the land.
    As you are aware that the US is in the midst of a severe economic crisis which was started by the housing market collapse. To get the housing market back on the road to sustained growth we need new buyers in the property market. Currently in the Employment Based category there are about 500000 applicants waiting for a visa number. These high skilled individuals constitute a minority of about 14-20 % of the annual immigrants quota. These individuals have a bachelors degree or higher in several special occupations such as engineering, research, IT, medicine, university academics and management. These individuals are law abiding tax paying citizens and are being hampered by 6-8 years of wait for a Green Card due to country based quotas and unused visa numbers. They are ready to put their root downs permanently in the community and contribute to the growth of this great nation, but are hampered by the delay in their permanent residency process. As a result of which they are not buying homes, sending valuable US dollars overseas and some are even refraining from starting their own business. Assuming even if 250,000 EB immigrants buy homes after getting their green cards and the average home price as 250,000, there can be a infusion of approx. 62.5 billion dollars in the housing market. This is just a start and might have a cascading effect on the entire US economy for better. There is no bail out involved and it is truly a real growth opportunity. Apart from this their savings and expenditure on big ticket items can provide mush needed revenue.
    This nation needs new blood and these high skilled, law abiding, tax paying immigrants might just be the answer.

    Good luck

    By Anonymous Jay D, At February 2, 2009 12:29 AM  

  • Welcome aboard Secretary Nepolitano, congratulations & sll the best to you!!

    I hope you will be able to lessen the bureaucratic delays in Legal/ Employement based immigration. It is taking more than 5-6 years to process EB based Green Cards even for category for skilled people with exceptional ability ( EB2). I hope this situations is corrected & that enable legal immigrants to take decisions like buying homes etc.

    Thanks , once again All the best to you !!

    Viv

    By Blogger vivek, At February 2, 2009 1:05 AM  

  • Madam Secretary,
    Congratulations on your appointment to the crucial office of the Secretary of Homeland Secretary. Your past achievements are a clear indicator of being fair and balanced on certain sensitive issues such as immigration and at the same time respect the law of the land.
    As you are aware that the US is in the midst of a severe economic crisis which was started by the housing market collapse. To get the housing market back on the road to sustained growth we need new buyers in the property market. Currently in the Employment Based category there are about 500000 applicants waiting for a visa number. These high skilled individuals constitute a minority of about 14-20 % of the annual immigrants quota. These individuals have a bachelors degree or higher in several special occupations such as engineering, research, IT, medicine, university academics and management. These individuals are law abiding tax paying legal residents and are being hampered by 6-8 years of wait for a Green Card due to country based quotas and unused visa numbers. In addition these professionals have to deal with all kind of restrictions for same or similar job category or salary and have to put their career growth on hold for a decade in current scenario.In this crisis we needs new direction and these high skilled, law abiding, tax paying immigrants need some help.Thanks for your time and attention.
    Good luck

    By Anonymous Anonymous, At February 2, 2009 1:27 AM  

  • Madam Secretary,
    Congratulations on your appointment to the office of the Secretary of Homeland Secretary. You have always been a strong voice to fix our legal immigration system, there is a need to re-engineer/overhaul immigration system that has been developed over 20years back.

    Currently legal immigrants with employment based(EB category) visas need to wait for as long as 8 years to obtain green card. Most of these individuals have exceptional abilities in science, medical & technology fields. Our nation has always played a critical role in scientific and technological discoveries, this is one way to maintain dominance technologically & grow our economy. Now we are in situation to loose these people who can help develop these technologies due to the long delays & back logs in green card availability. This issue has been neglected for so many years during previous administration.

    Your look into this matter is worth the cause.

    Regards
    Ratna.M

    By Blogger raul, At February 2, 2009 8:20 AM  

  • Dear Ms.Nepolitano,

    Congratulations on your appointment to the new Goverment of Change. We, the legal immigrant applicants are thrilled to hear this news of your appointment as we do really expect you to do justice to us, the legal immigration applicants in EB3 category from India.

    Let me come to the main point.

    I came to US in 2000 and have always played by the rules. I always paid my taxes on time, and was always in employment. And there are many like me, from India.
    I have applied for my greencard in Late Dec 2003 in employment based EB3 category from INdia, and at this time the case is stuck due to quota limits of greencards per country. When admitting highly skilled workers in H1B category, US allows approximately 30,000 to 40,000 INdians per year, but when it comes to greencards quota, there are per-country limits that restricts the numbers to 6,000. The numbers may not be 100% accurate, but thats the way its working. And each family member in the greencard applicant category is counted for one visa. That way the quota comes down to
    2,000 to 3,000 per year for INdians. And added to this there were so many administrative delays in the past that resulted in visa numbers wastage. If we have to wait at this rate, I am very sure I will not get my greencard even in 15 years, which is very punishing. I came here when I was 28 years old, and I am now close to 40 years and I still dont have my greencard. I am unable to buy a house though I have money. I spend about $1300.00 per month for house rents in the last 9 years and continue to do so. There are many like me who can buy houses but are unable to as they dont have their greencards yet. I want to start my own company, create a lots of wealth for society and for myself, and create jobs, but I cannot afford to leave my employer who is sponsoring my greencard. He is very good, but I want to start a company myself and its not wrong to think that way.
    Due to this waiting stress, I am getting health problems like hypertension, and other and its affecting my productivity.

    PLease help us by doing a small administrative fix. Please make rules such that anyone in the US who aplied for greencards for more than 5 years much get it immediately.
    If I may further request you, you may also want to consider creating one more rule to give citizenship to anyone in the US for 10 years and have played by the rues, legally. We have complied everything to be eligible to be Citizens. The delays are not our fault. There are many friends at ages 30-35 who are returning back with US born Citizen children who are tired of these waits, and plan to return after their retirement when their Citizen children sponsor citizenships for them. They will be close to 60 years and not as productive. Please allow us to spend our most productive years in US.

    I have come here nearly 10 years back, holding my bags in mny hands and I am still holding them, though I played by the rules set forth.
    We too deserve the change, please. We do not take away jobs, as we already have them. We just need a small administrative fix, which the previous goverment failed to do. You dont need to wait for the economy to improve for this. By doing this, I am sure economy will improve as some of us want to buy houses. THough we see some houses close to 50% cheaper, yet we are not able to buy them.. Please please help us.

    Sri,
    EB3 Employment based legal immigration applicant in US for close to 10 years and applied for Greencard in Dec 2003.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, At February 2, 2009 8:56 AM  

  • Welcome aboard Secretary Nepolitano,

    It is good sign you are aware of the issues related to backlog on legal immigration who are taxpayers with higher educational qualfications.
    The specific issue we are facing is in Texas service center related 140 processing . As per USCIS procedure they are supposed to process
    the application is the order they recieve , but surprisingly TSC is an Exception. They Approve applications for 2008 and 2009 when applications
    filed during july and august 2007 are pending. They even published the processing dates as january 2008 when they have a backlog of july and august
    2007 applicants. But Nebraska Service center follow the rules and approves in the order they recieve.It high time if we could bring fairness to
    the processing and even after paying higher fee for 140 application, USCIS (TSC) has not improved the efficieny in processing.Hopefully the new
    admistration will bring a postive change and bring fairness to the whole process

    By Anonymous Anonymous, At February 2, 2009 9:20 AM  

  • Dear Madam Napolitano,

    Sub: USCIS & DOS not providing any statistics on Employement Based Green Cards

    I am applicant of Employement Based Adjustment of Status(I-485) , waiting for my priority dates to become current. I have been waiting for last 8 years now. As you may know that until the application is adjudicated one cannot make major(probably even minor) shifts in career. This makes us very curious to look for the Visa dates bulletin, published by DOS every month. How useful it would be if USCIS/DOS provide statistics on 'How many applications they have received, in which EB categories and which country chargeability'. This will give us lot of insight on when we can expect our priority date to become current. This will help us to plan lot of things regarding career, buying house etc. We are sitting in a dark hole for almost a decade now, we don't know how far is the light, or if even there is light at the end of the tunnel ? In this land of Liberty, we, a legal, where humanity & human rights are on top of the administration's agenda, we, a legal, law abiding and Tax paying community seek help from you...

    Thanks
    Rohit Sharma

    By Anonymous Anonymous, At February 2, 2009 9:52 AM  

  • Secretary Napolitano,

    Congrats! on being appointed and taking over the crusial role of Secratary of this department. Now as legal immigrants we clearly understand what the "Change" means in the election campaigns of our beloved President Obama. With the first ever blog you have impressed evry one of us with a possitive note of "CHANGE" that's going to come in days / weeks going forward. Most of us legal imigrants and in the counrty waiting in the backlog for periods ranging between 5 to 10 years. We eagerly await to see some ight at the end of the tunnel. In these difficult economic times it's always a blessing to have a secretary like you who is willing to take control of the department where huge backlogs in the legal immigration is causing lot of problems to families , children of these families. We once again request you to take appropriate administrative fix for the huge backlogs and end the sorrow in our lives especially for those in the country in a legal way and for those here for almost 10+ years.

    Thanks again

    By Anonymous Anonymous, At February 2, 2009 10:26 AM  

  • Madame Secretary, congratulations and good luck in your new post. I see in the eleven directives you have issued to your departments the question "Which regional offices still lag behind in making progress toward target processing times?" I can tell you that the St. Louis District Office is one of those. I am a U.S. citizen applying for and adjustment of status for my husband. He came here from Ghana on a student visa. We were married three years ago and shortly after that we filed the application to adjust his status to permanent resident. We have spent over $2000 on that application and the work permit that he has to renew every year so that he can work. It has been over two years since our so-called interview at the St. Louis office, which was more like an interrogation -- we were treated very rudely by the immigration officer who "interviewed" us whiile I was pregnant with our first son. Since then, we haven’t heard from the St. Louis office. I have called the National Customer Service Center as often as they will allow (now every 6 months); our lawyer has written two letters to the St. Louis Office, which they completely ignored; I’ve launched four congressional inquiries – three with Sentator McCaskill's office and one with Russ Carnahan’s office; and we’ve gotten no information other than that our case is under “extended supervisory review.” Most recently we had an InfoPass appointment on December 18, 2008, where they told us that they would be asking for more information "soon." Again, we haven't heard from them. So for these years, although he works and pays taxes, my husband can’t get a Missouri driver’s license, a bank loan, a tax rebate like the economic stimulus package they sent out last summer, and most of all, he can’t leave the country to go visit his elderly and blind mother whom he hasn’t seen for five years.
    So my question is who is the St. Louis District Office accountable to? Who can get information out of them about what exactly they are reviewing, what further information they need, and when they are going to be finished?
    I hope that in your tenure as secretary you help USCIS improve their legal immigration processes.

    By Anonymous Kirsten Young-Abotsi, At February 2, 2009 10:43 AM  

  • Madam Secretary,

    Congratulations on your appointment to this vital post. I wish you much success.

    I am extremely frustrated at the situation with USCIS. I married a foreign woman with a daughter and began the painfully long process of bringing them here legally to the US. I have submitted all the paperwork and am waiting waiting waiting.

    I have given up calling USCIS because all they can tell me is to look on their website for processing times. They cannot tell me where my application is in the line or any indication as to when they will begin working on our application, never mind when we can reasonable expect to be reunited as a family.

    In the meantime, our lives are on hold and we are unable to plan anything. It is not going to be an easy thing for us to restructure our entire lives, and we can't even get a timeframe for needing to so so. I no longer call USCIS for an update simply because, after being on hold for 45+ minutes, I can't get any answers and it's an exercise in a aggravation and an utter waste of time.

    I married this woman and accept my responsibility for both her and my stepdaughter. It is insane and very very wrong that we will end up having to wait at least a year to bring them here.

    I eagerly await the 2/20 report on your findings. In the meantime, my family and I continue to wait.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, At February 2, 2009 11:01 AM  

  • Madam Secretary,

    Stories of legal employment immigrants have been pathetic and kept under darkness. Average wait times for a Green Card for employment based applicants are anywhere from 5 to 10 years.Let me explain little bit about me so you can get the depth of the problem. I am a computer consultant working in US since 2004, totally under legal status. Born in India I am an Australian citizen. I have two masters degrees and one PhD from foreign universities. I have two kids and my wife is graduated from United states medical school. I have worked for more than 18 years. Today, I live with the constant fear due to the badly managed immigration system. We worked so hard to get here into United States and it is so hard to think how long I have to wait in this country to get a Green card. My labor was certified in 2005. Four years passed. No Green Card till this date.

    May I suggest some steps to help us from this mess that might help employment category

    1. Please Issue a conditional green cards to all the 485 waiters (if the delay is caused due to USCIS processing). This should help legal immigrants invest more confidently start business etc and support to the economic recovery.

    2. Prioritize the adjudication strictly based on priority date. Please add a prescreening level to filter applications and ensure USCIS will meet the visa numbers every year.

    3.Recapture the green card visas using an administrative fix.

    4.US masters be eliminating from all green card cap

    4.Amend the naturalization law to allow the 485 receipt date as the begin date to count for naturalization.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, At February 2, 2009 11:17 AM  

  • Madam Secretary,

    Congratulations on your appointment.

    I am an applicant in the Employment Based category resident visa (EB-3 Green Card) from India. There are approximately 300,000+ applicants waiting for a resident visa. These are individuals who have followed the employment based visa rules and laws. They are suffering and enduring a long wait because thousands of unused visa numbers were lost in past years (2001 onwards). These law abiding tax (including Social security and Medicare) paying applicants have been waiting for 8 years of for a Green Card due to country based quotas and unused visa numbers.

    I am requesting you to initiate a recapture process so that these individuals can contribute to American productivity as permanent residents.

    Thanks for your time and attention.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, At February 2, 2009 11:42 AM  

  • I watched the Superbowl from start to finish and was just a legendary night! But I would have never imagined that the men of Homeland Security also worked during the final of the Superbowl!
    But you will not ever rest?
    Good morning Mrs. Napoletano, good morning to all You, mythical Men'n Black. Excuse me if I name You like the film, but I belove You and I ask me: some time YOU REST in YOURS HOME??? Thanks & God bless Yours Families and Your Children:) With Love & Gratitude (also & specially) from Italy.

    By Blogger bea, At February 2, 2009 11:47 AM  

  • Madam Secretary,
    Congratulations!! I am hopeful and optimistic. I am originally from India. I would like to bring your attention to plight of legal employment based skilled immigrants. People born in India represent the majority of skilled immigrants(engineers, doctors, professors). It currently takes about 5 years or more for a person from India with a master's degree to get a green card. While a person born else where gets a greencard in about a 8 months. I do not understand how or why when India and the USA natural allies, two democracies, with so many shared values, I am singled out, even after following every law in the book. I am now staring at a never ending wait for a greencard.
    I would be grateful if you can look into this matter.
    Thank you and wishing you all the very best.
    God Bless America.
    RV

    By Anonymous Anonymous, At February 2, 2009 12:03 PM  

  • Welcome Secretrary Nepolitano.

    I am private loyal citizen of the United States.
    I look forward to a new administration that will be more inclusive of its citizens as part of Homeland Security.
    I believe you are off to a good start!

    Please feel free to contact me directly via email

    Thanks
    AJF
    anonymous.good.friend@gmail.com

    By Blogger Joker.of.Random, At February 2, 2009 1:12 PM  

  • Secretary Naplitano,

    As a DHS employee, I'm encouraged to see that you embrace the use of blogs. I have one recommendation for you. Please take the time to receive a demonstration of TSA's IdeaFactory. It is a great tool to harness the powere of DHS employees to innovate, collaborate, and improve the work environment. TSA has had the system since April 2007 and it's time to implement this system DHS-wide. The President used similar technology on his change.gov website.

    IdeaFactory needs your endorsement and support to be truly successful. Please consider adopting this collaborative system throughout DHS.

    Thanks - TH

    By Anonymous Anonymous, At February 2, 2009 1:13 PM  

  • Congratulation! Since I imagine your plate is full,I'm not going to gripe about anything and just say if I can help in some small way,let me know.
    John Robinson,Saraland,Alabama's Cert team leader

    By Anonymous Anonymous, At February 2, 2009 1:40 PM  

  • Hi,
    Congratulations.
    The legal immigrant (based on employment) backlog is horrible. My friends are suffering for so many years, and have to jump through so many unclear hoops. The system needs to be fixed.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, At February 2, 2009 4:04 PM  

  • Congratulations Secretary Napolitano!

    I am so thrilled to see your Immigration and Border Security Action Directive, especially the Legal Immigration Benefit Backlogs section. I believe it's the right step to address the problems with legal immigration. I see the following problems:

    1. Lack of transparency of USCIS. No pending case per country per category data available to the public.
    2. Waste of EB (Employment Based) visa number years after years even when there is a huge back log.
    3. Unfairness in USCIS processing. Simple first in first out rule was not followed in processing applications.
    4. Unfairness of the rule that EB applicants have to start from scratch with LC (Labor Certificate) application when switching jobs.
     
    My personal experience. This is our 11th years studying and working in US. And we have contributed to US by not only paying taxes but also working hard as an inventor. I have 7 pending U.S. patents at USPTO office. We are also lawful citizens without even a parking ticket during our whole 11 years stay. As a consequence of the existing legal immigration system and USCIS delay, we have no idea when we will get our green card which affects both our financial and career movement. We have a 6 year old boy who is an American citizen. This has created inexplicable situation not only for us but also to explain to our child what American values are and what liberty and justice for all means which he recites every morning in school but seeing it differently in his own life.
     
    This has caused personal hardship both financially and mentally for many other applicants I know as well. This is also reflected badly to the image of DOS and left honest taxpaying immigrants in despair. 

    There are only a few jobs in the world that affect people’s life in direct ways, like a doctor or judge, and your job happen to be one. I truly believe that you are a hard working person and also a believer of law and fairness to all. Would love to see your success in the position.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, At February 2, 2009 5:11 PM  

  • Congratulations on your appointment!
    I am from China, waiting for my green card since 2006. Like a lot law-abiding legal Chinese immigrants, We are suffering from the backlog on employment-based legal immigration for Chinese immigrants. The per-country quota limit, unused (thus wasted) visas and lack of transparency in green card processing prolong the waiting time for us, on average from 4 to 8 years. I even heard a story of a Chinese spending his good 18 years to get his green card approved last week. If I could make a request, I would sincerely ask you to bring changes to the green card processing and make it fair for all applicants.

    Thank you for your attention and good luck on your new job!

    Sincerely,
    A Law-abiding Legal Chinese Immigrant

    By Anonymous Anonymous, At February 2, 2009 6:37 PM  

  • Madam Secretary,
    My Heartiest Congratulations to you on your appointment to such an vital position.
    I am an Indian and I have done my Master’s in Computer Science and I am working for the past four years. I am one of the many who with lots of hard work got admitted into the top schools in the US, graduated and working here. I feel proud of myself to be in this land of opportunities, but at the same time I see that it takes forever to get the legal residency. Even after living here for so many years, I cannot think of settling here as my status is not permanent. I cannot buy a house as my status is not permanent.
    I would like to bring to your notice that there are many like me who are highly qualified, smart and who really contribute to the success of this country but cannot enjoy the fruits of the success. I find the Green card applicants in distress. Even after being so well qualified, they cannot have a plan in place to settle in life. I request you to make the path to acquiring legal residency more easy and fast.

    Sincerely,
    Madhu

    By Blogger SPPAMS, At February 2, 2009 7:12 PM  

  • thanks for becoming boss of this department. I am here on a SLAVERY (h1b) visa . My i-140 eb3 visa has been denied for 3 year degree issue. Many federal courts have ruled out but still USCIS, particulary NSC stick to this policy. Please be advised I am here in US for 8 years, if the agency is so particular that I am taking a job of a US citizen based on equivalent education, it is also possible that i can continue to take this job overseas. In today global corporate world, a person can work virtually anywhere from the world. I cannot take promotions, I cannot switch job, I cannot negotiate my pay, etc. My petition is under appeal but and I am not at all worried of the outcome but I advise the agency should treat the legal immigrants like humans and not slaves.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, At February 2, 2009 9:50 PM  

  • Dear Secretary Nepolitano,

    We would like to bring to your attention your agents of the San Jose ICE office, who assured the business owner employing illegal workers in Santa Clara California that they would do nothing to ENFORCE the laws of our country.
    As our US Citizens stand in the unemployment lines these workers are making thousands of dollars under the table, cheating the tax paying workers, our citizens and our welfare systems and government.
    Please let us know how you can correct this matter immediately. We see that you have asked that criminal aliens leave the county, how can we get there if the Local police and ICE agent cannot be bothered to enforce the law.
    One of these aliens have committed.
    1. Identity theft
    2. Credit Card fraud
    3. Bodily harm threats
    4. Break in to private residences and destroy belongings
    5. Illegally break into private computers and destroy data
    6. Threaten people
    and the list goes on.....
    now tell us how we can reach your office, Ms. Barbra transferred us to a Fusion? office today, they hung up on us.
    Is that the way to treat a US CITIZEN? Your attention to matter will be appreciated.
    Congratulations and looking forward to your leadership.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, At February 2, 2009 11:19 PM  

  • Dear Ms. Napolitano,

    Congratulations. I am working on an H1B visa since 2001. No green card yet. I am from India, Applied green card on employment based category 3 in May 2003. The cut off dates are still Oct 2001. This is a huge delay ...

    Regards.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, At February 2, 2009 11:37 PM  

  • Secretary Napolitano
    Congratulation on your new role. Wish you can make the USCIS better.

    Lots of people, at least my family are extremely frustrated with the service provided by the USCIS. I came to US on 2001 from china and started my Green Card application(EB2) since Jun/2004. In the pass four years, we have called TSC,visited local office(InfoPass) many many times and ended up nothing helpful.Pretty much, what they told me was the same each time. Meanwhile, we have observed lots of case have been approved in the same catalog but with much newed PD dates.It is really unfair for the people like me who has been waiting 3-4 years. What we ask is to process the case base on the certain rule instead of those random picking up(like lottery). Hope you as the new secretary, can give a fresh appearance to the USCIS.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, At February 3, 2009 1:02 AM  

  • Dear Secretary Napolitano,

    Employers in the U.S. should follow labor and immigration laws.

    The availability of illegal jobs in the U.S. is what attracts most illegal workers. The key to ending most illegal immigration is to take away the jobs magnet. In fact, that is exactly what the late Rep. Barbara Jordan (D-Texas) recommended when she chaired the bi-partisan U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform, which concluded that the influx of cheap illegal labor depressed the wages of American who worked in the occupations that hired the illegal workers. The United States has an illegal employer problem. A large minority of unscrupulous employers knowingly hire illegal labor to keep their costs down. Their illicit actions encourage illegal immigration and make it difficult for legal workers to find jobs.

    Congress can keep jobs legal by making the E-Verify program mandatory for all businesses. E-Verify is a federal on-line program that has been available to businesses for 12 years. E-Verify enables businesses to quickly verify the work eligibility of newly hired employees. Combined with a simple companion program to weed out identity theft, E-Verify would put most illegal jobs back into the hands of Americans and legal immigrants - good news for the 10 million Americans who are looking but can't find a job. In addition, law-abiding businesses would no longer be threatened by competitors who hire illegal workers.

    Please pass a bill like the SAVE Act, which would make the E-Verify program mandatory for all businesses and keep jobs legal.

    Sincerely

    By Anonymous Anonymous, At February 3, 2009 3:04 PM  

  • Congratulations! Secretary Napolitano.

    It is a real pleasure to be able to talk with the director of USCIS. As a Chinese EB2 immigrant, my past experience with USCIS is not good, customer service representive often give unhelpful, even wrong information about my case.

    And transparency definitely need improvement. For a long time, immigrant community has requested detailed EB backlog information from the USCIS, broken down by year, country and category. Even the DOS officer complained in visa bulletin that the lacking of data caused confusion on the priority date determination.

    Hope change could come to USCIS under your lead!

    Thanks.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, At February 3, 2009 3:06 PM  

  • Congratulation on your new role. Wish you can make the USCIS better.

    I came to US on 2001 from china and started my Green Card application(EB2) since Jun/2005 after I got my Master degress in Math. In the pass four years, we have been waiting for GC which put many of my plan on hold including buying a house. Speeding the GC progress will stablized the house market and will enventually benefit US economy.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, At February 3, 2009 3:41 PM  

  • I am very happy to see that you are still keeping in touch with the public. Even though you are no longer in Arizona, I am sure that you are keeping our wellbeing on your list.
    I noticed an article the other day that mentioned that you wanted convicted illegal immigrants to be deported. I totally agree with that suggestion, but how do we keep these individuals from coming back illegally? As you may know here in Arizona we have had some citizens and law enforcement officers killed or severily injured as a result of these previously deported aliens returning the the U.S. I am not sure if any of these people were convicted criminals, but needless to say it is a concern to me.
    I have been reading the posts on the CBP website that talk about all the arrests that are being made at the border. I applaud the hard work that these fine men and women are doing at the borders. But I know that not all illegals aliens are being captured. It almost sounds like we need to build the fence (almost complete) and a 100 foot deep underground retaining wall to prevent tunneling. A National Guard unit with guns and bullets issued would also help with protecting our borders.
    You have a lot on your plate and I know that this area is a small part, but to silence the detractors we need to slam the door closed now.

    By Anonymous NIWeinberg, At February 3, 2009 5:13 PM  

  • Ms. Napolitano:

    Last November, a group known as The Identity Project posed the following ten questions for nominees for Secretary of Homeland Security or Administrator of the TSA. Readers of your journal would surely appreciate seeing your answers to the questions.

    1. Do you believe that individuals should have a right to travel in the USA? Why or why not?

    2. What substantive (e.g probable cause) and procedural (e.g. due process and judicial review) standards do you believe should apply to actions by or directed by your agency, or other government agencies, that would restrict that right?

    3. Should individuals in the USA be required to have or display government ID in order to travel by common carrier or on public rights-of-way by plane? By train? By bus? By ship or ferry? By private car? On foot? Why or why not?

    4. Should individuals in the USA be required to obtain government permission in order to travel by common carrier or on public rights-of-way by plane? By train? By bus? By ship or ferry? By private car? On foot? Why or why not?

    5. Should US citizens be required to have a passport and/or obtain government permission in order to leave the USA? Why or why not?

    6. Should US citizens be required to have a passport and/or obtain government permission in order to return to the USA from abroad? Why or why not?

    7. Should the government maintain records of the travel or movement of people who are not suspected of a crime or subject to a court order authorizing surveillance and logging of their movements? Why or why not?

    8. Should the government mandate the collection or maintenance by travel companies of records of the travel or movement of people who are not suspected of a crime or subject to a court order authorizing surveillance and logging of their movements? Why or why not?

    9. Should travel companies or other third parties to whom individuals are required by the government to provide personal information be free to use, sell, or “share” that information, or should it be protected by laws? Why or why not?

    10. What do you think should be done with existing government files of travel records about innocent people?

    By Blogger Phil, At February 3, 2009 5:25 PM  

  • Fully Agreed with the below Poster - Add All employers - and Madam Secretary Napolitano Why did Your ICE officer from the San Jose, CA office assure the owners of a company in Santa Clara CA that they will ignore the Violations by them and the Illegal workers working there and even today working at the company ?????

    Will you correct this please?

    "Over 11 million adult American citizens can’t find a job… meanwhile approximately
    7 million illegal aliens do have a job! What is wrong with this picture?!

    MAKE E-VERIFY MANDATORY FOR EMPLOYERS. As a Department of Homeland Security, you should not be working against the interests of citizens by delaying this Executive Order to start federal contractors, sub-contractors using E-Verify!

    That will protect American jobs; American workers & their families…….."

    By Anonymous Anonymous, At February 4, 2009 10:55 AM  

  • Congratulations Madame Secretary for your new role! I do appreciate this platform for us to express our opinions and reveal the truth about legal immigrants in the country. Many of the comments above have already expressed their frustration on the flawed immigration system, so I will repeat those again. What I'd like to do today is to use myself as an example to show how legal immigrants played by rules and how we contribute to the United States in many different ways.

    Both my wife and I came to the US and earned MS degree in a reputable US university. Then we started working on H1B visa for Fortune 500 companies. During the 5 years of our work, we have paid roughly $150,000 in Federal tax, $55,000 in state tax, $50,000 in SS tax -- that is $250,000 the Fed or the state that could be used to build roads, help the poor, or even bail out wall street (which I do hope it didn't happen). At work, we are both professionals working on improving the country's clinical trial system, which results in quicker drug development turnaround and cheaper medicine for the people in need. When not working, we do community services from time to time, we travel around the country, we spend an average of $4000 each month, which I believe helps the economy moving forward as consumers.

    I wouldn't call myself an overcontributor, but based on my research, we are paying more Fed, state, Social Security than an average American, and we are spending more than an average American. We appreciate the privilage of being able to work in the US, and we are happy to make our contributions to the country in different way. We do have plans to spend even more, which is to buy a house and fulfill our ultimate dream. But the fact that we are working on H1B and loss of job means no unemployment insurance and no legal status in this country has been putting us on hold for years.

    Despite the fact that both of us have background clean as a whistle (not even a speeding ticket in last seven years), we had to go through lengthy security background check each time we went back China to visit and applied for the H1B re-entry visa. The background check lasted as long as 2 months, which means loss productivity at work, loss of our personal income, loss of the Fed, State, and SS tax, and ironically, also loss of precious resources for Department of Homeland Security which could be better used to track down the real terrorists -- in the end of day, everyone but the real terroist wins.

    During our career, we had better opportunities elsewhere, or we had chances to get promotions. But we had to let them go, painfully. All because of the lengthy Green Card waiting that holds us back from doing any change. Some may think it's OK to restart the process elsewhere, then anyone who has been through it knows it's too much pain to be done again.

    We, working on H1B and waiting for Green Card, pay every penny of tax, obey every law in the country, wait patiently for our visa. We pay unemployment insurance yet are not elligible to use it, we pay SS tax yet many of us can't stay long enough to collect them; we obeyed laws yet we are under constant attack with lies from alikes of Lou Dobbs; we made enough and saved enough and are willing to buy houses yet many us can't...this is the dire situation of legal immigrants and it keeps people asking why playing by rules is not awarded. We do hope a positive change is on the horizon with the new administration of President Obama.

    Best regards,

    By Anonymous Michael Chen, At February 4, 2009 3:00 PM  

  • I'm applying for EB1---thought I would've some advantage or priority, but been waiting for a year.
    I have APPROVE that USCIS is not doing their work as they say. I randomly looked at some SRC numbers that're greater than mine---which means the cases were filed after mine---they were approved 3-7 months ago. If they don't process case on a 'first come first serve' basis, what's it good for to post a "processing time" online, which is so behind anyway and only says incompetence?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, At February 5, 2009 3:07 PM  

  • Congratulations Madame Secretary
    Can you please ensure that Texas Service Center process applications in FIRST in FIRST out basis. They seems to follow any rule for processing. and approve all the latest application

    By Anonymous Anonymous, At February 5, 2009 3:57 PM  

  • Does "asses" = "assess" in the Secretary's posting? Perhaps a typo as in the following:
    We rolled out the final action directive today on immigration – to asses our progress to secure the border, remove criminal aliens from the United States, and improve our legal immigration procedures.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, At February 6, 2009 12:23 PM  

  • @Annonymous, thanks for catching the typo. It's updated now.

    By Blogger DHS, At February 6, 2009 2:14 PM  

  • Dear DHS,

    We read these post , but seems like your department is not posting comments sent to be posted on Mr. Torres report. If your department is to have an open dialog all comments complementary or not should be posted.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, At February 9, 2009 10:38 AM  

  • A Quote

    "My wife and I recently spent an evening assisting more than 600 people in families racked by unemployment and poverty. They were given a hot meal, bags of groceries, bus tokens, coupons and advice/counseling if requested. They needed a band-aid, and we gave them one. But most of all, these households need a job. The majority of U.S. Senators have decided that illegal foreign workers deserve a job as much as the Americans in our soup kitchen, meaning more of these Americans will remain jobless. "

    By Anonymous Anonymous, At February 9, 2009 10:39 AM  

  • Congratulations Madame Secretary and we have very high expectations from you.

    The Legal Immigration system is broken. The current system has bureaucratic delays, where it takes more than 7-8 years to process EB based Green Cards even for category for skilled people like Engineers, Doctors and Scientists.

    Please improve the Legal Immigration System and reduce the systemic delays.

    thanx, Raj

    By Blogger Rajesh Jain, At February 11, 2009 9:49 AM  

  • If you want to continue to be the Secretary of Homeland Security then please do your job and continue to increase the worksite raids and enforcing the laws against illegal immigration!
    ALL JOBS IN AMERCIA BELONG ONLY TO AMERICAN CITIZENS AND 100% LEAGL WORKERS ONLY!
    No illegal aliens!

    By Anonymous Anonymous, At February 27, 2009 10:35 AM  

  • Congratulation for : "I’ve ordered that every incoming DHS employee receive ethics training."

    By Anonymous Foraj, At March 5, 2009 2:22 PM  

  • Congratulations to you Secretary...I am one of those applicant for I-485 at Texas Service Center since july 2007.All my friends who applied in almost the same date and have their papers filed at Nebraska Service Center got their green cards already.I have been wondering why mine is delayed for over a year.Now I have to renew my work authorization.What`s going on with TSC?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, At March 11, 2009 2:14 PM  

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