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Address Change Forms Flood INS
The INS says it does not have a system in place to keep up with all the paperwork. "When the announcement was made, the immigrant community's reaction was so great they all filed at the same time," INS spokesman Bill Strassberger said. "They've literally swamped our ability to keep up with the flow." Ashcroft announced last month that INS would be enforcing a 50-year-old law that makes failing to notify the INS of a move within 10 days a criminal offense. Before Sept. 11, INS was receiving just 2,800 change of address notifications a month. After the terrorist attacks, the number rose to 19,800 a month. But since the Justice Department announcement, INS has been receiving 30,000 a day, said Joe Karpinski, the INS's congressional liaison. "We have received 870,000 since the notice was published in the Federal Register July 26. We have processed about 100,000," Karpinski said. The change-of-address forms, which are sent to the agency's Washington headquarters, are not currently processed through a database. They are placed, by hand, in each individual's file, which could be in any part of the country. The Justice Department said last month it would update nearly three dozen immigration forms to better explain and give notice to foreigners that they must report any move to the government. Ashcroft's announcement triggered fear in immigrant communities, immigration advocates have said. Adding to the fear is the case of Thar Abdel-Jaber, who was arrested in Raleigh, N.C., after police stopped him for driving four miles over the speed limit. No evidence of terrorist links was found, but Abdel-Jaber was detained by INS for two months for failing to notify the agency within 10 days that he'd moved from Florida to Virginia. An immigration judge ruled the government could not deport him. "In some cases we are getting duplicates. In some cases we are getting forms from people who do not need to send them, such as naturalized citizens," Karpinski said. "I think people are wanting to be extra cautious." Karpinski said the INS has increased the staff working on processing the address changes from one to five. The agency also hopes to turn the job over to a contractor by mid-October. The goal is to have the contractor process the changes within three days, he said. No new money was given to the agency for the job. "Obviously we'll try to find the money for it with what we've got," Karpinski said. On the Net: http://www.ins.gov © 2002 The Associated
Press (09/09/2002) |
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