the other side

[BuffaloPaul]

I saw this at a blog called Instapundit.com and thought it offered an interesting perspective from the other side:

 

"I read your site and enjoy your comments, but I'm motivated to write by a few posts you've made recently about the immigration system. I feel like I ought to give you an inside perspective. I'm a consular officer serving in a very large visa-issuing post. I'm writing anonymously for obvious reasons...

 

First of all, I agree that the system is broken and decrepit. Far too many illegitimate travelers use our system to illegally migrate to the US, and the resulting procedures are cumbersome for legitimate travelers and immigrants. However, most of us involved in it recognize this (it's driven home to us hundreds of times each day), and would love to fix it. But we can't.

 

I have to say, I think your criticism of the process is misplaced. I will be the first to agree that I think DHS/CIS (ex-INS) makes boneheaded decisions all along the way. But you have to recognize that they are often forced to make boneheaded decisions by the mass of precedent accumulated over the years by Board of Immigration Appeals rulings- one bad decision at the top forces a future of similar bad decisions, even if the actual adjudicators might disagree. Thus, we have people who snuck across the border and made completely bogus claims of asylum being granted adjustment of status (green card) for "skilled labor" in critical shortage, like bricklayers and cell phone salesmen. Trust me, I've seen both of those approved by the Department of Labor.

 

Us lowly "grunts," who are the ones doing the heavy lifting of actually interviewing applicants, making decisions at the border, etc; are actually very constrained in their discretion of what to do. So the decisions that everyone complains about and shakes their heads in disbelief, are usually not due to some stupid officer or inspector who can't think straight. Secondly, the complaints about service and rudeness, while sometimes warranted, need a little perspective- we see hundreds (for consular officers) or thousands (for border inspectors) of applicants a day, a large percentage of whom are frauds, cheats, or liars, and our job is to 1) very quickly sort out who is honest and who is not, 2) decide if we can do anything about those who are not (very often the answer is no), and 3) send them along with the right visa or parole or admission or approval or denial. While it would be great if we could treat everyone with kind pleasanteries and happy conversations, we simply don't have the time. If we did that, we'd reduce some of the complaints about service, but increase the complaints about the backlogs. DHS/CIS has immigrant petitions stacked hundreds deep on the floors of their office- they're not to blame for not having the staff to handle them all! And we'd still get the complaints about service from everyone who is denied- they always feel they've been treated rudely no matter what we actually say. Along with that, the more illegal immigrants we let stay in the country, get green cards, and become citizens, the more work for our system: the number of applicants grows exponentially, because every relative in the village back home (and some non-relatives who are going to make fraudulent applications) is just waiting with bated breath for their lead scout to get that green card and start filing those petitions!

 

Professor, my point is mainly this: there is no one who knows better than the lowly consular officer or border/port of entry inspector that the system is broken. But please don't blame us functionaries- the blame belongs solely with Congress and, in a larger scope, with the American people. Congress writes the laws that make us give benefits to people who don't deserve it, and the huge amount of abuse tolerated and encouraged by Congress and the public is what makes us all so suspicious of everyone applying for something. I can't tell you the amount of fraud I've seen, and so when I get a legitimate marriage between an American 56 year old woman and a foreign 20 year old man, who don't have a common language between them, and have only met once, at their marriage, I'm sure that that legitimate woman is going to feel that I was unreasonably suspicious of their marriage.

 

Please get this perspective out there, on behalf of us long-suffering consular officers doing the dirty work of our country's immigration system. And if you think the system is broken, then get Congress to fix it!"

[lele]

Could this post please be removed. Another biased and prejudical work! **UGGHH**

1. it cites a source who is possibly completely fake and made up. there is no ownership to this.

2. it comes from a website which is politically biased (it is a front for one of the two major political parties in the US). I just checked its financial supporters to verify this.

3. even if it were supported, I do not see how this relates to the visa process for us, where we face wait times to get to see the officer which are far longer than almost every other destination in the world.

4. it makes dehumanizing attacks and seems on par with the one removed earlier on today.

If anyone else agrees with me that we should remove this, please speak up on this thread!

[pkfops]

Really?

[Cerberus]

I agree with lele. I read what BP posted. I went to the same site as lele did. I found this under FAQ for the site.

 

"First, there's very little independent factual reportage on InstaPundit, and when I'm reporting something based on my own experience that will be clear. But normally, information in posts comes from somebody else, and it shouldn't be regarded as any more reliable than the original source (e.g., The New York Times or Pravda), which will normally be linked, is in your judgment. Think of InstaPundit as being like a card catalog in a library -- it steers you to other things, mostly, and the fact that something is in the card catalog doesn't make it true. Second, it's a hobby, offered for free to people who want to read it. Unlike The New York Times, or Pravda for that matter, I don't have a staff of fact-checkers, editors, etc. As with anything else you read on the Internet, you should take what you read here as a starting point for your own research and investigation in the process of arriving at your own informed opinion (again, kind of like a card catalog) not as an ending point. I don't knowingly link to false things without saying so, except in the case of obvious parodies, and I do my best to correct factual errors when I'm made aware of them. But a weblog is more like a rough draft than a finished product, so you should treat this like -- well, like the rough draft of a card catalog, I guess."

 

When I read this quote from the site, it immediately told me that I should use the site as a beginning of thought process for myself. It tells me that I had to continue the investigation on my own, to try and establish fact. This site does not present factual hard truth. It is merely a listing of stories and personal perspective's. I'm sure that with a backlog of pending cases, CFLer's filling out of K1 & K3 paperwork, notarizing, copying, and still try to maintain their sanity being seperated from the loved ones, the list is endless and growing. CFLer's have better things to do with there time and life, then running around investigating someone else's perspectives.

 

I agree with lele, this was quoted as one person's perspective. Not as a concrete fact. I believe that it should be pulled.

 

 

[hank]

I agree that the Sh!t rolls downhill. But that does not negate the fact that things are seriously wrong. Excuses don't cut it when people are suffering and lives are being ruined because of incompetence. They need to make things right.

[nousername]

biased... YES... prejudical... YES... "just another excuse"... YES, possibly... could it be faked? made up? YES... couldn't anything I say or you say be made up or faked or biased? YES.

 

so who cares about this stupid post? what's the big deal? let people read it if they want. no one said this was fact. it was simply stated as being from a "blog" and that it was "interesting" ... was it not?

 

if we remove everything from CFL that is "not fact", "biased", "being from one's perspective" then CFL would be reduced to a list of links to goverment websites and a statement of immigration laws... is that what we want? i think we all need to realize that EVERYTHING written on this site or any other site is BIASED... since it is written by humans. we are by nature beings with biases. if you don't agree with it don't read it again.

 

But i think it is great if guys like Cerberus and Lele point out what they learn and find out from their own research about any given post or source. Let us know that instapundit contains "little independent factual reprotage"... i think that is helpful to anyone... saves us from doing the research work ourselves.

 

my biased 2 cents.

[awch]

Ryan I agree with you. Everything on this website is a personal opinion, based or possibly made up. I thought it was interesting to read even if it's "politically" motivated.

[tywy_99]

Ryan I agree with you. Everything on this website is a personal opinion, based or possibly made up. I thought it was interesting to read even if it's "politically" motivated.

I hope you are talking about Instapundit.com and not CFL.

 

if we remove everything from CFL that is "not fact", "biased", "being from one's perspective" then CFL would be reduced to a list of links to goverment websites and a statement of immigration laws...

 

There's more than just facts at CFL but experiences from people that have already been thru the process and who shares with others in hopes to give insight to the process.

CFL is more than just a list of links. It is a site intended for real people who have been thru the real process.

[nousername]

Ryan I agree with you. Everything on this website is a personal opinion, based or possibly made up. I thought it was interesting to read even if it's "politically" motivated.

I hope you are talking about Instapundit.com and not CFL.

 

if we remove everything from CFL that is "not fact", "biased", "being from one's perspective" then CFL would be reduced to a list of links to goverment websites and a statement of immigration laws...

 

There's more than just facts at CFL but experiences from people that have already been thru the process and who shares with others in hopes to give insight to the process.

CFL is more than just a list of links. It is a site intended for real people who have been thru the real process.

i think a re-read of my post (and the posts to which i was initially replying) might be in need.

 

actaully, I was referring to both websites. As i type, I am about to post here-- on CFL-- my own biased, personal, and even at times political views--as do many others on CFL. There no getting around this. Part of my point was that i think all here need to understand that we as humans do this.... on ANY website.

 

What you said in the end of your post supported my thoughts. You refer to CFL as being a goups of individuals sharing their personal experience... that's what CFL *is* and *should* be.

 

My point was that I believe if we take Lele's advice to it's logical end then there will be nothing left of CFL.

[lele]

There's more than just facts at CFL but experiences from people that have already been thru the process and who shares with others in hopes to give insight to the process.

CFL is more than just a list of links. It is a site intended for real people who have been thru the real process.

i think a re-read of my post (and the posts to which i was initially replying) might be in need.

 

actaully, I was referring to both websites. As i type, I am about to post here-- on CFL-- my own biased, personal, and even at times political views--as do many others on CFL. There no getting around this. Part of my point was that i think all here need to understand that we as humans do this.... on ANY website.

 

What you said in the end of your post supported my thoughts. You refer to CFL as being a goups of individuals sharing their personal experience... that's what CFL *is* and *should* be.

 

My point was that I believe if we take Lele's advice to it's logical end then there will be nothing left of CFL.

If there is a known person at the other end, a person whom is real and whom we can hold accountable for the comments, then my opposition would decrease.

 

However, if people want to come on here, for example, and talk about how these same immigration officers are possibly more responsible for terrorism by turning people away and making them feel more frustration towards the US who were legitimate, then that should also be allowed. Or to mention that when people are deported and it is later found to be in error, but they are so upset that they promote hatred of the US, that then the government should admit it is promoting terrorism. Oops, I guess I just made those connections. Completely fair in this context, from your perspective. If you want, i just read an article in a respectable journal which supports both of these arguments, and I can post a reference.

 

However, at least you know who I am!

 

Just a thought...

[nousername]

i think people can make whatever connections they want... i really doesn't bother me. I can accept your connections, reject them, or laugh at them. (had you really been making those connections... you know which of these i'd be doing. ) also, go ahead... post those journals.

 

BUT, at the same time i don't think that articles connecting immigration and terroism really belong here, b/c that doesn't really help anyone here get through this process any faster. whereas, if this post were true, it does shed light on the process we are dealing with.

[Guest DragonFlower]

Sounds like another round of CHEETOS for everybody.

 

 

 

 

 

[Robert S.]

I agree that the politically motivated, unsupported, and therefore basically worthless post should be removed. Why clutter up CFL with useless crap? We are trying to conserve our server space.

[Jeikun]

c'mon guys... even if it's BS it was an interesting read, and has potential for sparking discussion. Isn't that what this site is about? There's nothing openly offensive in there (to me anyway).

 

I see no point in shouting "Delete this!!" every time something like this is posted. I for one say keep it.

[warpedbored]

BUT, at the same time i don't think that articles connecting immigration and terroism really belong here, b/c that doesn't really help anyone here get through this process any faster. whereas, if this post were true, it does shed light on the process we are dealing with.

I don't have a problem with the post although I do appreciate the source being outed. I have to dissagree though that these kind of posts don't belong here. The connection between terrorism and the K-visa process affects everyone here directly. The purpose of this website isn't just to get you through the process quicker. There isn't a hell of a lot you can do to make it quicker. You are at the mercy of the USCIS and GZ. I like to think it is also a place where we can go for support from our CFL brothers and sisters. A close knit family here to support each other through this long and difficult period in our lives.