I
keep thinking that
sooner or later I’ll
run out of things to
criticize the
government about.
However that does
not seem to be the
case as about the
time I start to work
on some column
article about life
on Mars or the
importance of tree
bark in our lives,
along comes some
news blurb out of
the blue that I can
really sink my teeth
into.
If you’ll recall
several months ago,
the good old United
States government
advised us that we
could not leave or
reenter the country
until we had a valid
passport. Obviously
they had
miscalculated on the
number of people who
did not have a valid
passport.
You may have
witnessed this for
yourself; there was
a mad rush for
passport photos at
your local post
office with long
lines waiting to
submit their
applications. There
were stories in the
newspapers about
couples trying to
leave the country to
get married in Italy
or somewhere and
they were afraid
they weren’t going
to be able to hold
the wedding as they
had planned.
The response was
overwhelming and the
government was
forced to back down.
The rules were
suspended and to be
honest I have no
idea what the
current rules say or
mean. I cannot
figure out what
documents you have
to have to leave the
country and then be
able to return. If
you want to look
them up for
yourself, have at
it, the website is:
http://travel.state.gov/travel/cbpmc/cbpmc_2223.html.
Put a _ between the
cbpmc and the 2223,
it would not allow
me to do so on my
computer. The
government must put
it in there to
confuse us. I can’t
understand what they
are saying; it looks
to me as if you only
need a passport if
you are traveling by
air to the Caribbean
area, but not if you
are going to the
Middle East and
back. Look for
yourself and let me
know what you think,
it’s confusing to me
exactly what they
want or how we can
comply. One more
thing, just what is
a passport card
anyway?
Well, that leads me
into my next foray
into the mysteries
of the United States
government. It seems
the applications for
‘green cards’ have
overwhelmed the
United States
Citizenship and
Immigration Service
department. They
report that over
300,000 people are
now waiting for the
agency to finish up
reviewing their
applications. Some
of the applicants
have been waiting
over seven years.
The agency sends the
applications to the
FBI to perform what
is known as a ‘name
check’ which has to
be completed before
the ‘green card’ is
officially issued to
the applicant. The
FBI states that it
receives more than
70,000 requests each
week with over half
of these coming from
the Immigration
Department. The FBI
says it can’t handle
the volume due to
staffing shortages.
So, what’s the
answer? Well, the
immigration service
says they are going
to just go ahead and
issue the cards
anyway and worry
about the results
later. One of their
spokesmen made the
statement that if
the FBI later finds
out the applicant
isn’t a good person
or should not be
allowed into the
country, then the
Immigrations service
can always deport
them later.
Sure, and I’m
thinking the NBA is
going to call me and
draft me as a
forward for the
Lakers just any time
now. Not going to
happen.
I’m certain any
‘green card’ holder
intent upon creating
havoc in this
country is going to
sit at home and wait
for the FBI or the
Immigration service
to knock on his
front door and
gently persuade him
or her to leave the
country quietly. If
the government can’t
find them now, what
makes them think
they can find them
later?
In your dreams.
You know, what
bothers me is
this…look at that
figure I gave you a
moment ago of 70,000
new names being
given to the FBI on
a weekly basis.
That’s a total of
10,000 each day or
416 per hour on a
twenty four hour
period. That’s 6.93
per minute that need
to be checked…..now
let’s say it takes 2
minutes to check
each one, then you’d
need about 14 people
per shift to clear
this stuff out each
week….14 people on
each 8 hour shift
equals 42 people a
day and if these
work 40 hours a week
at say, $30 an hour,
that comes out to
about $2,620,800 a
year before
benefits, and
supervisors. Not a
huge amount of
people needed to
process some
3,640,000
applications each
year. Less than a
dollar per
application.
I don’t know about
you, but I’d be
willing to bet those
mortgage brokers who
can tell you if you
qualify for a loan
or not in two
minutes get this
many or more
applications each
week. I know the
people who handle
approvals on our
credit cards process
more in an hour than
the government does
in a week. Looks to
me like the
government should
reach out and ask
some of the folks in
the private sector
how to handle large
volumes of
applications or
approvals.
But, then that would
be logical and would
made sense wouldn’t
it? So that won’t
happen.
