SunnySurya
08-07 02:46 PM
What is being done is simply replacing (or attaching) new I-140 to the exisitng 485. Thus RD of 485 remains intact.
I think IF we stress for FIFO principle then jumping lines , ships will be taken care of by themselves. let RD be used and PD recaPture request date on the letter be RD.
I think IF we stress for FIFO principle then jumping lines , ships will be taken care of by themselves. let RD be used and PD recaPture request date on the letter be RD.
wallpaper Institute on Glenn Beck
Madhuri
03-26 01:23 PM
Guys,
I am tired of short term projects and I started my FT job search in March first week, got 2 offers, both companies are fine with EAD. Only question HR asked me is, "your EAD expires in Sept,when are you starting the renewal process?" I told her that I can apply for renewal only within 90-120 days time frame. She was fine with my answer and also mentioned that she is aware of the fact there is some time line for EAD renewal.
I'll be starting my new FT job from Monday.
So bottom line is there are some HR people who are well aware of EAD and the strings attached to it. You are definitely going to meet them sooner or later, don't loose hope.
BTW why am I using AC21? - my PD is March 2006 (EB3 India), so I decided to use AC-21/EAD, as nobody knows how long this GC journey is? I am already in my 8th year of H1.
I am tired of short term projects and I started my FT job search in March first week, got 2 offers, both companies are fine with EAD. Only question HR asked me is, "your EAD expires in Sept,when are you starting the renewal process?" I told her that I can apply for renewal only within 90-120 days time frame. She was fine with my answer and also mentioned that she is aware of the fact there is some time line for EAD renewal.
I'll be starting my new FT job from Monday.
So bottom line is there are some HR people who are well aware of EAD and the strings attached to it. You are definitely going to meet them sooner or later, don't loose hope.
BTW why am I using AC21? - my PD is March 2006 (EB3 India), so I decided to use AC-21/EAD, as nobody knows how long this GC journey is? I am already in my 8th year of H1.
natrajs
10-01 04:23 PM
Finallly, my online status changed from "Initial review" -> "Document production" and also got email from Senator's office that my case is approved.
I think I got it....but not 100% sure yet...no approval emails yet... or no other proof.
Thanks,
-N
Finally , Congrats & Best Wishes
I think I got it....but not 100% sure yet...no approval emails yet... or no other proof.
Thanks,
-N
Finally , Congrats & Best Wishes
2011 Glenn Beck, 30 Rock amp; Netflix:
qasleuth
11-23 11:16 AM
qasleuth - You do not even deserve my reply. So you are free to write anything that you want!
why ? is that how you respond to a co-worker or manager at work, if you do not agree with them ? Repond like a grown up with rational arguments.
Setting aside moral and ethical arguments: three of your five suggestions are plain wrong, financially speaking:
taking new credit cards, buying a new car, renting an apartment. Interest rates are not locked and do you know, financial institutions can close your account and ask for the balance ? renters run credit report every time you extend your lease and can kick the renter out. These transactions may seem seamless for a person with decent credit but are extremely damaging for a person with very poor credit.
Leo2606, Being ethical is not a fancy word in business, in the long run (I am not talking about decades) your partners, customers and lenders will know about your practices and run away. Ethics and Morals are not something you take lightly especially when you are running your own business.
Take time to read some of the references listed here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_ethics
Being unethical can lead to legal problems apart from business losses. There is prudence and judgement which needs to be exercised, does not mean you do not have to be smart.
why ? is that how you respond to a co-worker or manager at work, if you do not agree with them ? Repond like a grown up with rational arguments.
Setting aside moral and ethical arguments: three of your five suggestions are plain wrong, financially speaking:
taking new credit cards, buying a new car, renting an apartment. Interest rates are not locked and do you know, financial institutions can close your account and ask for the balance ? renters run credit report every time you extend your lease and can kick the renter out. These transactions may seem seamless for a person with decent credit but are extremely damaging for a person with very poor credit.
Leo2606, Being ethical is not a fancy word in business, in the long run (I am not talking about decades) your partners, customers and lenders will know about your practices and run away. Ethics and Morals are not something you take lightly especially when you are running your own business.
Take time to read some of the references listed here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_ethics
Being unethical can lead to legal problems apart from business losses. There is prudence and judgement which needs to be exercised, does not mean you do not have to be smart.
more...
factoryman
06-15 12:30 PM
Do you have a question, comment, or give info about a previous post.
I don't mind, you just copied my post from another thread (http://immigrationvoice.org/forum/showthread.php?p=83656#post83656)(minus the links).
What are you tryiing to say?
I am speaking from experience. Download the forms needed for filing 485, EAD and AP. Then when your attorney send you his/her set ( normally they do this in 2 stages - one they will send you a draft copy to verify and correct all info - some have online questionnaire; stage two - they send the final forms for you to verify and sign again - this they may do paper copy or online PDF - that cannot be edited - not fill able forms).
So, here I am providing links to all forms that I know are needed. These from uscis.gov site are fill able. Weekend is coming. Fill them, and print and keep them.
When attorney sends papers, compare yours with their and do corrections in theirs ( usually it will have stamps of the firm)
Application To Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status - I-485
Medical Examination of Aliens Seeking Adjustment of Status - I-693
There is a supplemental 693 also for vaccination records.
Biographic Information - I-325 A
There are A, B, C and other versions. I filled A
Application for Employment Authorization - I-765
Application for Travel Document - I-131
Affidavit of Support - I-134
I completed all these forms with 100% correct info- still the Paralegal - made mistakes again and again ( I can't correct the PDF as Adobe PDF writer is 1800 USD). I lost ONE precious week. Hoping to file on 06/01/2007, filed on 06/08. Learn and be wiser from experience, yours and others.
__________________
We Are Legal Aliens, Legal Aliens on a path to become Legal Permanent Residents and ultimately citizens. Let's stop calling ourselves H1B high tech temp workers - and I changed my signature in the morning of one fine day when all dates became current
I don't mind, you just copied my post from another thread (http://immigrationvoice.org/forum/showthread.php?p=83656#post83656)(minus the links).
What are you tryiing to say?
I am speaking from experience. Download the forms needed for filing 485, EAD and AP. Then when your attorney send you his/her set ( normally they do this in 2 stages - one they will send you a draft copy to verify and correct all info - some have online questionnaire; stage two - they send the final forms for you to verify and sign again - this they may do paper copy or online PDF - that cannot be edited - not fill able forms).
So, here I am providing links to all forms that I know are needed. These from uscis.gov site are fill able. Weekend is coming. Fill them, and print and keep them.
When attorney sends papers, compare yours with their and do corrections in theirs ( usually it will have stamps of the firm)
Application To Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status - I-485
Medical Examination of Aliens Seeking Adjustment of Status - I-693
There is a supplemental 693 also for vaccination records.
Biographic Information - I-325 A
There are A, B, C and other versions. I filled A
Application for Employment Authorization - I-765
Application for Travel Document - I-131
Affidavit of Support - I-134
I completed all these forms with 100% correct info- still the Paralegal - made mistakes again and again ( I can't correct the PDF as Adobe PDF writer is 1800 USD). I lost ONE precious week. Hoping to file on 06/01/2007, filed on 06/08. Learn and be wiser from experience, yours and others.
__________________
We Are Legal Aliens, Legal Aliens on a path to become Legal Permanent Residents and ultimately citizens. Let's stop calling ourselves H1B high tech temp workers - and I changed my signature in the morning of one fine day when all dates became current
unseenguy
06-16 03:16 AM
Hi,
One of my friend is working in L1 on Informatica tool for one of the financial client.
Does it mean that his company is violationg rules?
His company is harrassing much for some personal reason and asking him to come back home country
what action he can take against his company if his company viaolating L1 rules.
Please anyone come across this situation then give us your suggestion.
Appericiate your help in advance
Can somebody reply to my question...?
He can not take any action. If they ask him to go back he has to go back. If informatica is embedded in another s/w which is company copyright then there is no technical violation of L1. Also if the project is administered by his company there is no violation of L1. If it is staff augmentation case, which does not seem to be the case here, then it could be violation of l1.
One of my friend is working in L1 on Informatica tool for one of the financial client.
Does it mean that his company is violationg rules?
His company is harrassing much for some personal reason and asking him to come back home country
what action he can take against his company if his company viaolating L1 rules.
Please anyone come across this situation then give us your suggestion.
Appericiate your help in advance
Can somebody reply to my question...?
He can not take any action. If they ask him to go back he has to go back. If informatica is embedded in another s/w which is company copyright then there is no technical violation of L1. Also if the project is administered by his company there is no violation of L1. If it is staff augmentation case, which does not seem to be the case here, then it could be violation of l1.
more...
nomad
07-12 02:22 AM
http://www.sacbee.com/110/story/262484.html
Editorial: Green card fiasco
Stop mistreating those who play by rules
-
Published 12:00 am PDT Monday, July 9, 2007
If you want to know what's really wrong with our immigration system, consider the July debacle at the Citizen and Immigration Service.
Individuals and businesses typically have to wait years to apply for "green cards" for permanent residency based on job skills. The backlogs have been so severe that an engineer from India or China has had to wait six years to apply for a green card. In other employment categories, the wait can be nine to 11 years. For people from the Philippines, the wait in some work categories is 22 years.
But then in the monthly Visa Bulletin issued June 13, the State Department said that employment-based visas would be available.
This set off a rush among sponsoring businesses and individuals who have waited in line for years to apply for green cards. Thousands prepared applications and mailed them in time for the immigration service to receive them by July 2, the first day of the application window.
Then on that very day, the State Department issued a "never mind" update, announcing that the 60,000 green cards it had expected to offer would no longer be available. The thousands who submitted applications will have their applications sent back to them.
As Los Angeles immigration attorney Carl Shusterman said last Tuesday, "We're right back to square one, with scientists, engineers, teachers and health care workers having to wait in endless lines for employment-based visas."
Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-San Jose, chairwoman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security and International Law sent irate letters to the Secretary of State and Secretary of Homeland Security. She said that changing course midmonth is contrary to years of practice, would result in the loss of thousands of dollars already expended by sponsoring businesses and individuals to prepare applications and, more important, would "threaten the integrity and predictability of our immigration system."
This is no way to treat people who try to play by the rules.
The Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman notes in his 2007 annual report to Congress that the nation has a "perpetual backlog" of employment-based green card applications. This backlog means that even green cards that should be available aren't used. This contributes to the backlog; if green cards are not issued in the year they are authorized, they are lost.
In 2006, more than 10,000 employment-based green cards were lost, even though the immigration service had 100,000 to 150,000 applications waiting to be processed. Since 1994, nearly 219,000 employment-based green cards have been lost because the immigration service isn't processing enough applications in a timely manner.
It gets worse. The funds appropriated by Congress to jumpstart a backlog elimination project expired Sept. 30. The backlog will continue.
In the long term, this country needs to increase the number of employment-based green cards to meet demand. But if the immigration service cannot even process applications in a timely fashion for the current numbers of employment-based green cards that are supposed to be available, what's the point?
In the short term, if Congress and the president do nothing else regarding immigration reform, they should at least make sure that the immigration service processes green card applications in timely fashion. The backlog is inexcusable and contributes to the nation's illegal immigration problem. If we want people to play by the rules, we have to make it possible for them to do so.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Editorial: Green card fiasco
Stop mistreating those who play by rules
-
Published 12:00 am PDT Monday, July 9, 2007
If you want to know what's really wrong with our immigration system, consider the July debacle at the Citizen and Immigration Service.
Individuals and businesses typically have to wait years to apply for "green cards" for permanent residency based on job skills. The backlogs have been so severe that an engineer from India or China has had to wait six years to apply for a green card. In other employment categories, the wait can be nine to 11 years. For people from the Philippines, the wait in some work categories is 22 years.
But then in the monthly Visa Bulletin issued June 13, the State Department said that employment-based visas would be available.
This set off a rush among sponsoring businesses and individuals who have waited in line for years to apply for green cards. Thousands prepared applications and mailed them in time for the immigration service to receive them by July 2, the first day of the application window.
Then on that very day, the State Department issued a "never mind" update, announcing that the 60,000 green cards it had expected to offer would no longer be available. The thousands who submitted applications will have their applications sent back to them.
As Los Angeles immigration attorney Carl Shusterman said last Tuesday, "We're right back to square one, with scientists, engineers, teachers and health care workers having to wait in endless lines for employment-based visas."
Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-San Jose, chairwoman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security and International Law sent irate letters to the Secretary of State and Secretary of Homeland Security. She said that changing course midmonth is contrary to years of practice, would result in the loss of thousands of dollars already expended by sponsoring businesses and individuals to prepare applications and, more important, would "threaten the integrity and predictability of our immigration system."
This is no way to treat people who try to play by the rules.
The Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman notes in his 2007 annual report to Congress that the nation has a "perpetual backlog" of employment-based green card applications. This backlog means that even green cards that should be available aren't used. This contributes to the backlog; if green cards are not issued in the year they are authorized, they are lost.
In 2006, more than 10,000 employment-based green cards were lost, even though the immigration service had 100,000 to 150,000 applications waiting to be processed. Since 1994, nearly 219,000 employment-based green cards have been lost because the immigration service isn't processing enough applications in a timely manner.
It gets worse. The funds appropriated by Congress to jumpstart a backlog elimination project expired Sept. 30. The backlog will continue.
In the long term, this country needs to increase the number of employment-based green cards to meet demand. But if the immigration service cannot even process applications in a timely fashion for the current numbers of employment-based green cards that are supposed to be available, what's the point?
In the short term, if Congress and the president do nothing else regarding immigration reform, they should at least make sure that the immigration service processes green card applications in timely fashion. The backlog is inexcusable and contributes to the nation's illegal immigration problem. If we want people to play by the rules, we have to make it possible for them to do so.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2010 Glenn Beck Fashion: tegan and
GC08
06-29 08:16 PM
This does not make sence at all. Why the USCIS would make visa number current then retrogress again? I do not think they make all visa current and not expect a flood of applications. .
I do not thisn that the USCIS did not plan for this. This does not make sense?Did this ever happen before?
There is no sense from those buarocrats because they are incompetent and purely stupid. You are right, USCIS did not plan for this... simply because they never had a plan! They have no idea what damage they can cause to average, hard-working people.
I do not thisn that the USCIS did not plan for this. This does not make sense?Did this ever happen before?
There is no sense from those buarocrats because they are incompetent and purely stupid. You are right, USCIS did not plan for this... simply because they never had a plan! They have no idea what damage they can cause to average, hard-working people.
more...
nkalpana
02-05 03:13 AM
Still waiting... guys please wish me well!!!
Regards,
NK
Regards,
NK
hair Watch Jon Stewart Bid Glenn
BharatPremi
10-17 05:21 PM
Guys,
I need your opinion and advise on this.
Old file - First File:
-----------------
current employer:A
EB3-Country: India(Bharat)-RIR-PD:07/2*/2003, I-140 approved - 485/AP/EAD/G-325 A filed on 07/12/2007 - EAD received, Soon FP appointment - NO AP yet - (myself-Primary+3) filing
New file - Second File:
---------------------
Future Employer: B
EB2-Country: India(Bharat)-PERM: PD:06/2*/2006,I-140 approved - NO 485 is filed under this yet.
Note: Labor for both applications has similar codes except new filing is based
on "Seniority" and thus EB2.
Now in light of October 2007 visa bulletin prediction given on www.murthy.com, It looks like EB2 may go ahead with comparision to EB3 ( Eb2: may stuck at January 2003 and EB3 May 2001/2) and by reading page 130 to 134 from the following link it looks like Priority date still matters even after filing 485 and your case can go on VISA HOLD SHELF if at the time of adjudication visa number is not available.
http://www.ilw.com/seminars/august2002_citation2b.pdf
Questions:
1) Suppose my EB2 PD (I-140 approved, no 485 filed) become current prior to
my EB3 PD (current employment- 485 is filed under this) and for some
months if I see EB3 may not move ahead what would be the best startegy
out of following?
- PORT (EB2 PD: 06/2*/2006) PD to my current 485 file which is based on
EB3 with PD 07/2*/2003. Can we PORT NEW PD to the file based on OLD
PD? I know OLD PD can be ported to NEW PD but what about reverse
condition?
- File another set (Myself+3) of 485 as new application under EB2 (Future
Employer) mentioning current A# numbers.
- File another set (Myself+3) of 485 as new application under EB2 (Future
Employer) mentioning current A# numbers with PORTING of OLD PD (EB3
PD 07/2*/2003).
Thanks in advance for any help or suggestions.
- BharatPremi
I need your opinion and advise on this.
Old file - First File:
-----------------
current employer:A
EB3-Country: India(Bharat)-RIR-PD:07/2*/2003, I-140 approved - 485/AP/EAD/G-325 A filed on 07/12/2007 - EAD received, Soon FP appointment - NO AP yet - (myself-Primary+3) filing
New file - Second File:
---------------------
Future Employer: B
EB2-Country: India(Bharat)-PERM: PD:06/2*/2006,I-140 approved - NO 485 is filed under this yet.
Note: Labor for both applications has similar codes except new filing is based
on "Seniority" and thus EB2.
Now in light of October 2007 visa bulletin prediction given on www.murthy.com, It looks like EB2 may go ahead with comparision to EB3 ( Eb2: may stuck at January 2003 and EB3 May 2001/2) and by reading page 130 to 134 from the following link it looks like Priority date still matters even after filing 485 and your case can go on VISA HOLD SHELF if at the time of adjudication visa number is not available.
http://www.ilw.com/seminars/august2002_citation2b.pdf
Questions:
1) Suppose my EB2 PD (I-140 approved, no 485 filed) become current prior to
my EB3 PD (current employment- 485 is filed under this) and for some
months if I see EB3 may not move ahead what would be the best startegy
out of following?
- PORT (EB2 PD: 06/2*/2006) PD to my current 485 file which is based on
EB3 with PD 07/2*/2003. Can we PORT NEW PD to the file based on OLD
PD? I know OLD PD can be ported to NEW PD but what about reverse
condition?
- File another set (Myself+3) of 485 as new application under EB2 (Future
Employer) mentioning current A# numbers.
- File another set (Myself+3) of 485 as new application under EB2 (Future
Employer) mentioning current A# numbers with PORTING of OLD PD (EB3
PD 07/2*/2003).
Thanks in advance for any help or suggestions.
- BharatPremi
more...
gc28262
09-09 02:50 PM
Called all except Steve King.
called my local congressman too.
called my local congressman too.
hot Glenn Beck interviews Ron Paul
baburob2
01-07 10:29 PM
not that i know of , but i have heard at number of places this coming up very faster. it might be one of those s1932 clauses in disguise. i will keep a tab on this legislation which seems to be very good.
more...
house She called Fox News#39; Glenn
glamzon
06-29 04:26 PM
My Guess is , It is a rumour . since the USCIS suspended the I -140 Premium Service for the month of july . It clearly indicates they are aware/expecting many of the I -485 filings from July 1st and do not want to promise I- 140 decision in 15 days during July .
tattoo Glenn Beck
hoolahoous
08-17 12:54 PM
I got email for decision/post decision about a week back but no CPO email yet.
more...
pictures glenn beck crying. hair A tiny
sheela
11-06 02:31 PM
I spoke to IO this morning regarding NC clearance for my family (7/2 filers). I was told whereas, my derivative's (wife and daughter) names have been cleared but there is no information on my clearance. She furthur told me the names were submitted on 8/30/07 and was told to wait for another month or so.
Guys: What is your take on this? I have started worrying now. Although they say 120 day processing time- My understanding is you are either cleared in few days or get stuck in the hole.
Guys: What is your take on this? I have started worrying now. Although they say 120 day processing time- My understanding is you are either cleared in few days or get stuck in the hole.
dresses Stand With Glenn Beck at
optimystic
03-26 02:48 PM
Where does it say (please quote official DHS/USCIS/DOL publication or a bill) that employers must hire "US Citizens" first? I think the regulations are to give preference to US workers (note that its not US citizens) before brining somebody from abroad.
You do make a very good observation and we should clarify with the experts. Can anybody help clarifying this from the lawyers?
I dont know of any link to a particular publication, but I thought it was a common knowledge that the whole point of labor certification process, is for the DOL to monitor that a potential US worker (I thought it meant US Citizen but may be not), is not being displaced by a foreign worker. To be clear here though, the DOL does not prevent an employer from going ahead and sponsoring an H1B and hiring a foreign employee. But DOL is legally directed to reject such labor applications.
Though this is applicable only for H1B hiring and subsequent filing of GC process for such an employee, I am wondering whether there is any loophole in DOL's directives that might provide a cover for employers to enquire whether a propective employee is US Citizens are not.... Especailly in the PERM process don't they have to do active recruiting efforts and gather statiscis that they tried to hire US citizens ..?? How can an employer gather statistics if they didn't ask for work authorization related details....?
May be due to possible loopholes in such laws...they are able to take it a step further and enquiring about the kind of work authorization a candidate possesses!
You do make a very good observation and we should clarify with the experts. Can anybody help clarifying this from the lawyers?
I dont know of any link to a particular publication, but I thought it was a common knowledge that the whole point of labor certification process, is for the DOL to monitor that a potential US worker (I thought it meant US Citizen but may be not), is not being displaced by a foreign worker. To be clear here though, the DOL does not prevent an employer from going ahead and sponsoring an H1B and hiring a foreign employee. But DOL is legally directed to reject such labor applications.
Though this is applicable only for H1B hiring and subsequent filing of GC process for such an employee, I am wondering whether there is any loophole in DOL's directives that might provide a cover for employers to enquire whether a propective employee is US Citizens are not.... Especailly in the PERM process don't they have to do active recruiting efforts and gather statiscis that they tried to hire US citizens ..?? How can an employer gather statistics if they didn't ask for work authorization related details....?
May be due to possible loopholes in such laws...they are able to take it a step further and enquiring about the kind of work authorization a candidate possesses!
more...
makeup Glenn Beck#39;s radio program
mojito_blender
06-21 03:18 PM
Go to USCIS and read the instructions; these 2 are also supposed to be self filed by the immigrant himself. So instructions are clear.
So, ask him why he needs these. Most likely, he will demur and say OK.
They don't know what they are doing, just packing the file for the money sucked ILs
thanks factoryman! I read through the requirement on I-485 pages, and only thing found for this purpose is just employment verification. I was just not sure if I missed anything. so, thank you very much, which really made me feel much easy now.
So, ask him why he needs these. Most likely, he will demur and say OK.
They don't know what they are doing, just packing the file for the money sucked ILs
thanks factoryman! I read through the requirement on I-485 pages, and only thing found for this purpose is just employment verification. I was just not sure if I missed anything. so, thank you very much, which really made me feel much easy now.
girlfriend While bidding Beck
vsrinir
09-12 08:52 AM
I called list
hairstyles Glenn Beck, keynote address at
jasmin45
07-13 07:24 AM
The whole controversy involving Lou Dobbs and leprosy started with a “60 Minutes” segment a few weeks ago.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/30/business/30leonside.html
Robert Caplin for The New York Times
Lou Dobbs was at the anchor desk for CNN’s 2006 election coverage.
Related Articles
Immigrants and Prison (May 30, 2007)
Bush Takes On Conservatives Over Immigration (May 30, 2007)
Reader Responses (May 30, 2007)
Episodes of "Lou Dobbs Tonight"
"60 Minutes" of May 6, 2007 Leprosy Statistics The segment was a profile of Mr. Dobbs, and while doing background research for it, a “60 Minutes” producer came across a 2005 news report from Mr. Dobbs’s CNN program on contagious diseases. In the report, one of Mr. Dobbs’s correspondents said there had been 7,000 cases of leprosy in this country over the previous three years, far more than in the past.
When Lesley Stahl of “60 Minutes” sat down to interview Mr. Dobbs on camera, she mentioned the report and told him that there didn’t seem to be much evidence for it.
“Well, I can tell you this,” he replied. “If we reported it, it’s a fact.”
With that Orwellian chestnut, Mr. Dobbs escalated the leprosy dispute into a full-scale media brouhaha. The next night, back on his own program, the same CNN correspondent who had done the earlier report, Christine Romans, repeated the 7,000 number, and Mr. Dobbs added that, if anything, it was probably an underestimate. A week later, the Southern Poverty Law Center — the civil rights group that has long been critical of Mr. Dobbs — took out advertisements in The New York Times and USA Today demanding that CNN run a correction.
Finally, Mr. Dobbs played host to two top officials from the law center on his program, “Lou Dobbs Tonight,” where he called their accusations outrageous and they called him wrong, unfair and “one of the most popular people on the white supremacist Web sites.”
We’ll get to the merits of the charges and countercharges shortly, but first it’s worth considering why, beyond entertainment value, all this matters. Over the last few years, Lou Dobbs has transformed himself into arguably this country’s foremost populist. It’s an odd role, given that he spent the 1980s and ’90s buttering up chief executives on CNN, but he’s now playing it very successfully. He has become a voice for the real economic anxiety felt by many Americans.
The audience for his program has grown 72 percent since 2003, and CBS — yes, the same network that broadcasts “60 Minutes” — just hired him as a commentator on “The Early Show.” Many elites, as Mr. Dobbs likes to call them, despise him, but others see him as a hero. His latest book, “War on the Middle Class,” was a best seller and received a sympathetic review in this newspaper. Mario Cuomo has said Mr. Dobbs is “addicted to economic truth.”
Mr. Dobbs argues that the middle class has many enemies: corporate lobbyists, greedy executives, wimpy journalists, corrupt politicians. But none play a bigger role than illegal immigrants. As he sees it, they are stealing our jobs, depressing our wages and even endangering our lives.
That’s where leprosy comes in.
“The invasion of illegal aliens is threatening the health of many Americans,” Mr. Dobbs said on his April 14, 2005, program. From there, he introduced his original report that mentioned leprosy, the flesh-destroying disease — technically known as Hansen’s disease — that has inspired fear for centuries.
According to a woman CNN identified as a medical lawyer named Dr. Madeleine Cosman, leprosy was on the march. As Ms. Romans, the CNN correspondent, relayed: “There were about 900 cases of leprosy for 40 years. There have been 7,000 in the past three years.”
“Incredible,” Mr. Dobbs replied.
Mr. Dobbs and Ms. Romans engaged in a nearly identical conversation a few weeks ago, when he was defending himself the night after the “60 Minutes” segment. “Suddenly, in the past three years, America has more than 7,000 cases of leprosy,” she said, again attributing the number to Ms. Cosman.
To sort through all this, I called James L. Krahenbuhl, the director of the National Hansen’s Disease Program, an arm of the federal government. Leprosy in the United States is indeed largely a disease of immigrants who have come from Asia and Latin America. And the official leprosy statistics do show about 7,000 diagnosed cases — but that’s over the last 30 years, not the last three.
The peak year was 1983, when there were 456 cases. After that, reported cases dropped steadily, falling to just 76 in 2000. Last year, there were 137.
“It is not a public health problem — that’s the bottom line,” Mr. Krahenbuhl told me. “You’ve got a country of 300 million people. This is not something for the public to get alarmed about.” Much about the disease remains unknown, but researchers think people get it through prolonged close contact with someone who already has it.
What about the increase over the last six years, to 137 cases from 76? Is that significant?
“No,” Mr. Krahenbuhl said. It could be a statistical fluctuation, or it could be a result of better data collection in recent years. In any event, the 137 reported cases last year were fewer than in any year from 1975 to 1996.
So Mr. Dobbs was flat-out wrong. And when I spoke to him yesterday, he admitted as much, sort of. I read him Ms. Romans’s comment — the one with the word “suddenly” in it — and he replied, “I think that is wrong.” He then went on to say that as far as he was concerned, he had corrected the mistake by later broadcasting another report, on the same night as his on-air confrontation with the Southern Poverty Law Center officials. This report mentioned that leprosy had peaked in 1983.
Of course, he has never acknowledged on the air that his program presented false information twice. Instead, he lambasted the officials from the law center for saying he had. Even yesterday, he spent much of our conversation emphasizing that there really were 7,000 cases in the leprosy registry, the government’s 30-year database. Mr. Dobbs is trying to have it both ways.
I have been somewhat taken aback about how shameless he has been during the whole dispute, so I spent some time reading transcripts from old episodes of “Lou Dobbs Tonight.” The way he handled leprosy, it turns out, is not all that unusual.
For one thing, Mr. Dobbs has a somewhat flexible relationship with reality. He has said, for example, that one-third of the inmates in the federal prison system are illegal immigrants. That’s wrong, too. According to the Justice Department, 6 percent of prisoners in this country are noncitizens (compared with 7 percent of the population). For a variety of reasons, the crime rate is actually lower among immigrants than natives.
Second, Mr. Dobbs really does give airtime to white supremacy sympathizers. Ms. Cosman, who is now deceased, was a lawyer and Renaissance studies scholar, never a medical doctor or a leprosy expert. She gave speeches in which she said that Mexican immigrants had a habit of molesting children. Back in their home villages, she would explain, rape was not as serious a crime as cow stealing. The Southern Poverty Law Center keeps a list of other such guests from “Lou Dobbs Tonight.”
Finally, Mr. Dobbs is fond of darkly hinting that this country is under attack. He suggested last week that the new immigration bill in Congress could be the first step toward a new nation — a “North American union” — that combines the United States, Canada and Mexico. On other occasions, his program has described a supposed Mexican plot to reclaim the Southwest. In one such report, one of his correspondents referred to a Utah visit by Vicente Fox, then Mexico’s president, as a “Mexican military incursion.”
When I asked Mr. Dobbs about this yesterday, he said, “You’ve raised this to a level that frankly I find offensive.”
The most common complaint about him, at least from other journalists, is that his program combines factual reporting with editorializing. But I think this misses the point. Americans, as a rule, are smart enough to handle a program that mixes opinion and facts. The problem with Mr. Dobbs is that he mixes opinion and untruths. He is the heir to the nativist tradition that has long used fiction and conspiracy theories as a weapon against the Irish, the Italians, the Chinese, the Jews and, now, the Mexicans.
There is no denying that this country’s immigration system is broken. But it defies belief — and a whole lot of economic research — to suggest that the problems of the middle class stem from illegal immigrants. Those immigrants, remember, are largely non-English speakers without a high school diploma. They have probably hurt the wages of native-born high school dropouts and made everyone else better off.
More to the point, if Mr. Dobbs’s arguments were really so good, don’t you think he would be able to stick to the facts? And if CNN were serious about being “the most trusted name in news,” as it claims to be, don’t you think it would be big enough to issue an actual correction?
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/30/business/30leonside.html
Robert Caplin for The New York Times
Lou Dobbs was at the anchor desk for CNN’s 2006 election coverage.
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Immigrants and Prison (May 30, 2007)
Bush Takes On Conservatives Over Immigration (May 30, 2007)
Reader Responses (May 30, 2007)
Episodes of "Lou Dobbs Tonight"
"60 Minutes" of May 6, 2007 Leprosy Statistics The segment was a profile of Mr. Dobbs, and while doing background research for it, a “60 Minutes” producer came across a 2005 news report from Mr. Dobbs’s CNN program on contagious diseases. In the report, one of Mr. Dobbs’s correspondents said there had been 7,000 cases of leprosy in this country over the previous three years, far more than in the past.
When Lesley Stahl of “60 Minutes” sat down to interview Mr. Dobbs on camera, she mentioned the report and told him that there didn’t seem to be much evidence for it.
“Well, I can tell you this,” he replied. “If we reported it, it’s a fact.”
With that Orwellian chestnut, Mr. Dobbs escalated the leprosy dispute into a full-scale media brouhaha. The next night, back on his own program, the same CNN correspondent who had done the earlier report, Christine Romans, repeated the 7,000 number, and Mr. Dobbs added that, if anything, it was probably an underestimate. A week later, the Southern Poverty Law Center — the civil rights group that has long been critical of Mr. Dobbs — took out advertisements in The New York Times and USA Today demanding that CNN run a correction.
Finally, Mr. Dobbs played host to two top officials from the law center on his program, “Lou Dobbs Tonight,” where he called their accusations outrageous and they called him wrong, unfair and “one of the most popular people on the white supremacist Web sites.”
We’ll get to the merits of the charges and countercharges shortly, but first it’s worth considering why, beyond entertainment value, all this matters. Over the last few years, Lou Dobbs has transformed himself into arguably this country’s foremost populist. It’s an odd role, given that he spent the 1980s and ’90s buttering up chief executives on CNN, but he’s now playing it very successfully. He has become a voice for the real economic anxiety felt by many Americans.
The audience for his program has grown 72 percent since 2003, and CBS — yes, the same network that broadcasts “60 Minutes” — just hired him as a commentator on “The Early Show.” Many elites, as Mr. Dobbs likes to call them, despise him, but others see him as a hero. His latest book, “War on the Middle Class,” was a best seller and received a sympathetic review in this newspaper. Mario Cuomo has said Mr. Dobbs is “addicted to economic truth.”
Mr. Dobbs argues that the middle class has many enemies: corporate lobbyists, greedy executives, wimpy journalists, corrupt politicians. But none play a bigger role than illegal immigrants. As he sees it, they are stealing our jobs, depressing our wages and even endangering our lives.
That’s where leprosy comes in.
“The invasion of illegal aliens is threatening the health of many Americans,” Mr. Dobbs said on his April 14, 2005, program. From there, he introduced his original report that mentioned leprosy, the flesh-destroying disease — technically known as Hansen’s disease — that has inspired fear for centuries.
According to a woman CNN identified as a medical lawyer named Dr. Madeleine Cosman, leprosy was on the march. As Ms. Romans, the CNN correspondent, relayed: “There were about 900 cases of leprosy for 40 years. There have been 7,000 in the past three years.”
“Incredible,” Mr. Dobbs replied.
Mr. Dobbs and Ms. Romans engaged in a nearly identical conversation a few weeks ago, when he was defending himself the night after the “60 Minutes” segment. “Suddenly, in the past three years, America has more than 7,000 cases of leprosy,” she said, again attributing the number to Ms. Cosman.
To sort through all this, I called James L. Krahenbuhl, the director of the National Hansen’s Disease Program, an arm of the federal government. Leprosy in the United States is indeed largely a disease of immigrants who have come from Asia and Latin America. And the official leprosy statistics do show about 7,000 diagnosed cases — but that’s over the last 30 years, not the last three.
The peak year was 1983, when there were 456 cases. After that, reported cases dropped steadily, falling to just 76 in 2000. Last year, there were 137.
“It is not a public health problem — that’s the bottom line,” Mr. Krahenbuhl told me. “You’ve got a country of 300 million people. This is not something for the public to get alarmed about.” Much about the disease remains unknown, but researchers think people get it through prolonged close contact with someone who already has it.
What about the increase over the last six years, to 137 cases from 76? Is that significant?
“No,” Mr. Krahenbuhl said. It could be a statistical fluctuation, or it could be a result of better data collection in recent years. In any event, the 137 reported cases last year were fewer than in any year from 1975 to 1996.
So Mr. Dobbs was flat-out wrong. And when I spoke to him yesterday, he admitted as much, sort of. I read him Ms. Romans’s comment — the one with the word “suddenly” in it — and he replied, “I think that is wrong.” He then went on to say that as far as he was concerned, he had corrected the mistake by later broadcasting another report, on the same night as his on-air confrontation with the Southern Poverty Law Center officials. This report mentioned that leprosy had peaked in 1983.
Of course, he has never acknowledged on the air that his program presented false information twice. Instead, he lambasted the officials from the law center for saying he had. Even yesterday, he spent much of our conversation emphasizing that there really were 7,000 cases in the leprosy registry, the government’s 30-year database. Mr. Dobbs is trying to have it both ways.
I have been somewhat taken aback about how shameless he has been during the whole dispute, so I spent some time reading transcripts from old episodes of “Lou Dobbs Tonight.” The way he handled leprosy, it turns out, is not all that unusual.
For one thing, Mr. Dobbs has a somewhat flexible relationship with reality. He has said, for example, that one-third of the inmates in the federal prison system are illegal immigrants. That’s wrong, too. According to the Justice Department, 6 percent of prisoners in this country are noncitizens (compared with 7 percent of the population). For a variety of reasons, the crime rate is actually lower among immigrants than natives.
Second, Mr. Dobbs really does give airtime to white supremacy sympathizers. Ms. Cosman, who is now deceased, was a lawyer and Renaissance studies scholar, never a medical doctor or a leprosy expert. She gave speeches in which she said that Mexican immigrants had a habit of molesting children. Back in their home villages, she would explain, rape was not as serious a crime as cow stealing. The Southern Poverty Law Center keeps a list of other such guests from “Lou Dobbs Tonight.”
Finally, Mr. Dobbs is fond of darkly hinting that this country is under attack. He suggested last week that the new immigration bill in Congress could be the first step toward a new nation — a “North American union” — that combines the United States, Canada and Mexico. On other occasions, his program has described a supposed Mexican plot to reclaim the Southwest. In one such report, one of his correspondents referred to a Utah visit by Vicente Fox, then Mexico’s president, as a “Mexican military incursion.”
When I asked Mr. Dobbs about this yesterday, he said, “You’ve raised this to a level that frankly I find offensive.”
The most common complaint about him, at least from other journalists, is that his program combines factual reporting with editorializing. But I think this misses the point. Americans, as a rule, are smart enough to handle a program that mixes opinion and facts. The problem with Mr. Dobbs is that he mixes opinion and untruths. He is the heir to the nativist tradition that has long used fiction and conspiracy theories as a weapon against the Irish, the Italians, the Chinese, the Jews and, now, the Mexicans.
There is no denying that this country’s immigration system is broken. But it defies belief — and a whole lot of economic research — to suggest that the problems of the middle class stem from illegal immigrants. Those immigrants, remember, are largely non-English speakers without a high school diploma. They have probably hurt the wages of native-born high school dropouts and made everyone else better off.
More to the point, if Mr. Dobbs’s arguments were really so good, don’t you think he would be able to stick to the facts? And if CNN were serious about being “the most trusted name in news,” as it claims to be, don’t you think it would be big enough to issue an actual correction?
abuddyz
01-17 04:01 PM
here is some information I found at many places... i have mentioned one URL as a reference..
http://www.lewslaw.com/US_Immigration_Updates%202007.htm#121107a
DOS (Department of State) states that KCC is responding to consular posts within 48 hours and usually within hours, but occasionally the wait is two or more days. Thus, a visa applicant should prepare for additional delays in the issuance of a visa at a U.S. Consulate abroad.
http://www.lewslaw.com/US_Immigration_Updates%202007.htm#121107a
DOS (Department of State) states that KCC is responding to consular posts within 48 hours and usually within hours, but occasionally the wait is two or more days. Thus, a visa applicant should prepare for additional delays in the issuance of a visa at a U.S. Consulate abroad.
drona
07-10 07:38 PM
Saimrathi Please see nixstor's message above and respond to it.
