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From: abeles@mhuxm.UUCP (abeles)
Newsgroups: net.net-people, net.legal
Subject: Re: Help a Polish "immigrant"
Message-ID: <113@mhuxm.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 10-May-84 10:14:15 EDT
Article-I.D.: mhuxm.113
Posted: Thu May 10 10:14:15 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 12-May-84 07:42:24 EDT
References: <17200001@iuvax.UUCP> <126@uwstat.ARPA> <655@ihuxb.UUCP>
Organization: Bell Communications Research, Murray Hill, NJ
Lines: 39

<>

Regarding INS policies:

US immigration laws are one thing, but I understand that the INS has
virtually carte blanche to act as they see fit in a number of areas.

Here's a true life example:  Someone I know very well has close friends
in Switzerland (not exactly a third-world country) as a result of having
lived there during WW II in order to escape Nazi persecution.  One of
the daughters of her Swiss friend, along with a friend of hers, decided
to visit the United States last year.  They obtained tourist visas in
Switzerland which were good for six months.  Arriving at Customs in NY,
the girls, speaking poor English, were asked what they were to do  in the
US.  The friend's daughter indicated she was to spend time touring the
country and living with her "aunt", and that she would be helping her
with housework in exchange for living there.

Whereupon the INS agent at Customs stamped her visa good for only 30 days,
in spite of the 6 months previously granted.  The "aunt" called INS and
expecting there had been a mistake owing to language difficulties, found
much to the contrary that the Customs agent had full power to alter the
original visa!  Solving this problem eventually required a hearing in
a Federal building in lower Manhattan, New York City.

The United States Immigration and Naturalization Service has the power to
act quite arbitrarily, and according to the local Congressman, this is
due somewhat to legislative problems in the House of Representatives
because of a desire on the part of (among others, but particularly) Tip
O'Neill, the Speaker of the House, to deal politically with the growing
Hispanic lobby.  The Hispanics, of course, are interested in getting more
liberal policies promulgated for citizenship for immigrants from Mexico
and other Latin American countries.  So basic problems for nice, French-
speaking Swiss tourists go unaddressed.

Of course, the Swiss are rather sticky themselves when it comes to granting
citizenship to outsiders--but that's a subject for another article.

--Joe Abeles, Bell Communications Research, a.k.a. Bellcore, Murray Hill, NJ