Murthy Exhorts DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff to Revise USCIS Policy

The USCIS decision of July 2, 2007, not to accept any I-485 filings affects thousands of people. Since then, our surprise, anger, frustration and despair with the system and the lack of transparency and consistency with the USCIS, has turned to wanting to do something concrete. Some decided to support or participate in the class action lawsuit being planned by the American Immigration Law Foundation. Others have sent flowers to shame USCIS Director Gonzales to protest his decision. Others have resigned to their misfortune.

I suddenly realized that I had an avenue to help in this situation that most others may not. I had recently met and spoken with Michael Chertoff, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in mid-June 2007 during the Harvard Law School Worldwide Alumni Congress. See the MurthyBlog of June 20, 2007. He is also a fellow Harvard Law School alumni. So I took the liberty to write to Mr. Chertoff to explain the issues and our concerns. Since the USCIS is only one of over 20 agencies that is a part of DHS, I wanted my letter to provide Mr. Chertoff some background in case he is not very familiar with the issues and point out the importance of our government being transparent and consistent to the people it serves.

Click here to review my letter to Mr. Chertoff (will be posted by the evening of July 12, 2007). In my letter, I request him to direct the USCIS to change their decision and start accepting I-485 cases for July 2007. We also request a review of the USCIS allocation of about 60,000 immigrant visas claimed to have been allocated within a month and we request that a system be set up so that such incidents cannot be repeated in the future, as it undermines our faith and trust in our government.

Our nation is the beacon of hope for the rest of the world. We need to be different from other governments and countries that are rampant with greed, corruption and where residents do not enjoy rights that are enshrined in our U.S. Constitution. The actions of the USCIS violate our rights and make us lose faith in our legal system and the freedoms that this country is respected and admired for.

Thank you to each of you who has helped and supported, whether vocally, by sending flowers, or in spirit, or any other way you could, by supporting the cause. Hang in there! I am confident that together we will either succeed or know that we made 100% efforts to succeed!