spdy_mn
06-29 06:15 PM
Nothing will happen. The dates will be retrogresses on Monday. May be we will see 'U' in Visa Bulletin. The AILA will try to pursue DOS and USICS but they will politely say "sorry for the trouble" This will lead to the law suit. Some people will submit their resignation. In the next year you will see those at some higher post somewhere.
Wow. We are living in the great country built by Immigrants were there is no value of Immigrant. For undocumented immigrants, there are senators to help them. For rich people, they have money so don't have to do anything. For middle class immigrant like you and me IV forum is there to show our frustration.
I am now seriously thinking of going back to my home country were I would be considered moron who came back from US.
This is nothing new, things like this happen in almost all parts of the world. Remember Enron, one fine morning thousands of people found that their life savings or retirment savings got wiped out clean with nothing to fall back on. Same could be said of about a lot of dot com millionaires. Life is very very unfair, what other explanation do we have other than that.
Wow. We are living in the great country built by Immigrants were there is no value of Immigrant. For undocumented immigrants, there are senators to help them. For rich people, they have money so don't have to do anything. For middle class immigrant like you and me IV forum is there to show our frustration.
I am now seriously thinking of going back to my home country were I would be considered moron who came back from US.
This is nothing new, things like this happen in almost all parts of the world. Remember Enron, one fine morning thousands of people found that their life savings or retirment savings got wiped out clean with nothing to fall back on. Same could be said of about a lot of dot com millionaires. Life is very very unfair, what other explanation do we have other than that.
wallpaper Cartoon Goldfish
mrsr
06-27 04:44 PM
confirmed with two lawyers ( both says same can put tin number ) rest up to you
are you sure?
ITINs purpose is to ONLY put it when filing taxes. And all forms clearly ask for SSN# SO I dont think your lawyer is advising correctly.
ITIN cannot be used for anything other than filing taxes.
are you sure?
ITINs purpose is to ONLY put it when filing taxes. And all forms clearly ask for SSN# SO I dont think your lawyer is advising correctly.
ITIN cannot be used for anything other than filing taxes.
smisachu
07-09 11:15 PM
We have no doubt that India is Great...Can't you see in this Gandhigiri that we are doing!! Show me any other country on earth that is using something that is more than 70 years old!!We are here(in US) to acheive some goal..higher than GC..but GC is an essential step in acheiving this..That's it..
By the same tokes as you say, if Gandhi did not start Quit India movement citing that his efforts for the past 25 years have not suceeded so there is no chance now...British would not have left in 1947
What we are protesting is the unnecessary turmoil that USCIS put us through..as you said we cannot force things in US like in India, so we have not called for a Bundh, we don't plan to burn anything or pelt stones...Just a peaceful message..that don't waste our money and effort due to your inability to communicate among yourselves..
As far as your theory that PD2005/2006/2007 should wait..what do you have to say to me..
1999-Came to US to study MS
2001-Started working
2002-EB2
2003-Joined MBA
2004-Employer shut down and off went my EB2 2002 before I got my Labor
2005-EB2
2006-I140
2007-I-485 filed in July?????
Have I satisfied the criteria for FIFO according to you???
Hello all
I am a silent visitor of this website.
Just my 2 cents... Don't think USA is like India where you can do something forcefully. Why don't you guys understand the real problem of USCIS.
Do you think that by sending flower to USCIS will force them to make EB2/EB3 current for 2005/2006/2007 guys??
Please try to understand their problem.
Also India is the great. Why don't you guys just think that India is your home country where you are born and brought up. Why you people can't just wait and watch?? If nothing happens to the so called GC, then why don't you think to pack up and go back to India???????
My sincere request, please don't do rally, you might be arrested......you never know what they can do..... Don't you think that, it is better to go back to India rather than being embarrassed here in US???
Isn't it a shame on us to go for Rally to get GC?????:D
Just think that you will get it when time comes, otherwise pack up.
Please don't take much tension as life is very short. I am assuring you all, nothing will happen with law suit and flower campaign.Don't irritate USCIS by doing all this please.
EB2 India
PD-2005-May
I140 approved-Sept 2006
By the same tokes as you say, if Gandhi did not start Quit India movement citing that his efforts for the past 25 years have not suceeded so there is no chance now...British would not have left in 1947
What we are protesting is the unnecessary turmoil that USCIS put us through..as you said we cannot force things in US like in India, so we have not called for a Bundh, we don't plan to burn anything or pelt stones...Just a peaceful message..that don't waste our money and effort due to your inability to communicate among yourselves..
As far as your theory that PD2005/2006/2007 should wait..what do you have to say to me..
1999-Came to US to study MS
2001-Started working
2002-EB2
2003-Joined MBA
2004-Employer shut down and off went my EB2 2002 before I got my Labor
2005-EB2
2006-I140
2007-I-485 filed in July?????
Have I satisfied the criteria for FIFO according to you???
Hello all
I am a silent visitor of this website.
Just my 2 cents... Don't think USA is like India where you can do something forcefully. Why don't you guys understand the real problem of USCIS.
Do you think that by sending flower to USCIS will force them to make EB2/EB3 current for 2005/2006/2007 guys??
Please try to understand their problem.
Also India is the great. Why don't you guys just think that India is your home country where you are born and brought up. Why you people can't just wait and watch?? If nothing happens to the so called GC, then why don't you think to pack up and go back to India???????
My sincere request, please don't do rally, you might be arrested......you never know what they can do..... Don't you think that, it is better to go back to India rather than being embarrassed here in US???
Isn't it a shame on us to go for Rally to get GC?????:D
Just think that you will get it when time comes, otherwise pack up.
Please don't take much tension as life is very short. I am assuring you all, nothing will happen with law suit and flower campaign.Don't irritate USCIS by doing all this please.
EB2 India
PD-2005-May
I140 approved-Sept 2006
2011 2011 goldfish cartoon. cartoon
wolfsappi
06-29 05:13 PM
could any organization be more incompetent than USCIS. This is unreal
more...
Vikul
10-03 12:41 AM
Got my receipt today. Till friday i wasn't in there sytem, they told me to call after 1 month n today my company lawyers got the receipt. So guys hold on.... :-)
vikul
vikul
ski_dude12
09-27 04:35 PM
I received the cards today. However, the "Resident Since" date is some date in 2008 instead of 09/20/10 (date when I-485 was approved).
I was told by USCIS customer service to fill out form I-90 and mail it to them for a replacement.
I needed clarification on a cryptic question on the form-
Under Part 3 (Processing information)-
3: City of residence where you applied for an immigrant visa or adjustment of status
The I-90 instructions has this - "City of residence where you applied for an immigrant visa or adjustment of status - List the location of the U.S. Embassy or consulate or USCIS office where you filed your application for an immigrant visa or adjustment of status"
So does this mean it is the service center I applied to during the 2007 fiasco? or where I lived when I-485 was filed? The question is cryptic but the help in the I-90 instructions looks clear.
Any one had this issue before? They do have an option on the form for USCIS error for which I do not need to pay any processing fees...
I was told by USCIS customer service to fill out form I-90 and mail it to them for a replacement.
I needed clarification on a cryptic question on the form-
Under Part 3 (Processing information)-
3: City of residence where you applied for an immigrant visa or adjustment of status
The I-90 instructions has this - "City of residence where you applied for an immigrant visa or adjustment of status - List the location of the U.S. Embassy or consulate or USCIS office where you filed your application for an immigrant visa or adjustment of status"
So does this mean it is the service center I applied to during the 2007 fiasco? or where I lived when I-485 was filed? The question is cryptic but the help in the I-90 instructions looks clear.
Any one had this issue before? They do have an option on the form for USCIS error for which I do not need to pay any processing fees...
more...
chandooo
09-09 08:57 PM
still waiting
2010 Cartoon Goldfish middot; Cartoon
justin150377
07-09 10:29 PM
This is just a message to 2005/2006/2007 PD guys. Please don't think that some miracle will happen and dates will be current soon, it will take its own time. Mostly for EB2 & EB3June 2006- June 2007 guys, it will be like a lottery if the PD becomes current somewhere in 2007 Oct-Nov time. Right??
So life is not always easy. There are people waiting since 2002-03-04.
Don't think that life is not a FIFO always.
Why some of the guys became violent when I said, INDIA IS GREAT???
Guys.. do you know why I always feel like this???
As my parents,in laws and most of my relatives stay there. Not only mine, allmost all guys who are in the IV, they must have parents and relatives in India for sure. There is no other reason why I said India is great.
Someone asked me to pack up... YES, I will if nothing happens;however, I will be waiting to see the progress for sure. This is July. Let's have a look over OCT bulletin after 2 months and for sure dates will move atleast 4-6 months for EB2 guys and 1 year for EB3 guys. So wait, be patient, instead of doing all this.
Anyway, our turn will come sooner or later, so why to become impatient just seeing the JULY bulletin CURRENT and then "U".
Mainly this is the message for 2005-2006-2007 PD guys. Please don't take it otherwise.
Hey Smitha, if you have some extra cash, it sure sounds like you do given the fact you can afford to file multiple I-485s, feel free to donate some to IV.
So life is not always easy. There are people waiting since 2002-03-04.
Don't think that life is not a FIFO always.
Why some of the guys became violent when I said, INDIA IS GREAT???
Guys.. do you know why I always feel like this???
As my parents,in laws and most of my relatives stay there. Not only mine, allmost all guys who are in the IV, they must have parents and relatives in India for sure. There is no other reason why I said India is great.
Someone asked me to pack up... YES, I will if nothing happens;however, I will be waiting to see the progress for sure. This is July. Let's have a look over OCT bulletin after 2 months and for sure dates will move atleast 4-6 months for EB2 guys and 1 year for EB3 guys. So wait, be patient, instead of doing all this.
Anyway, our turn will come sooner or later, so why to become impatient just seeing the JULY bulletin CURRENT and then "U".
Mainly this is the message for 2005-2006-2007 PD guys. Please don't take it otherwise.
Hey Smitha, if you have some extra cash, it sure sounds like you do given the fact you can afford to file multiple I-485s, feel free to donate some to IV.
more...
satyasaich
01-27 03:00 PM
Please click the following link
http://www.migrationpolicy.org/ITFIAF/news_012506.php
Dr. Martin recommends that:
1.Policies must be flexible enough to respond to changing market conditions;
2.Visa categories, which have become so complicated they often require professional assistance to navigate, should be simplified;
3.The government apparatus for managing applications should be better funded and more efficient;
4.Requirements for workers and employers should be reasonable and consistent with the way the labor market functions (so for jobs that are not temporary, workers should be given an option to transition to permanent status);
5.Workers should have mobility among jobs and employers; and
6.Employment of unauthorized migrants must be curtailed.
Does anyone know what happened in this breakfast meeting..
http://www.migrationpolicy.org/ITFIAF/news_012506.php
Dr. Martin recommends that:
1.Policies must be flexible enough to respond to changing market conditions;
2.Visa categories, which have become so complicated they often require professional assistance to navigate, should be simplified;
3.The government apparatus for managing applications should be better funded and more efficient;
4.Requirements for workers and employers should be reasonable and consistent with the way the labor market functions (so for jobs that are not temporary, workers should be given an option to transition to permanent status);
5.Workers should have mobility among jobs and employers; and
6.Employment of unauthorized migrants must be curtailed.
Does anyone know what happened in this breakfast meeting..
hair Cartoon Goldfish
Hunter
05-09 01:50 PM
We should form a union and flout our numbers to lobby aganist any bill. Unless we show our numbers nobody is going give flying f*** about us.
So UNION is good when you want to be on that for collective bargaining to serve your ends.
However, it is really bad for the economy when auto-workers have a union (as many mentioned in this forum about the non-existent $94/hr UAW worker).
BTW, this is not the only place where Indian IT professionals are expressing the need for UNION. These days, I saw even offshore company employees talking about the need for UNION since many companies like Infosys are quietly sacking employees without any severence.
So UNION is good when you want to be on that for collective bargaining to serve your ends.
However, it is really bad for the economy when auto-workers have a union (as many mentioned in this forum about the non-existent $94/hr UAW worker).
BTW, this is not the only place where Indian IT professionals are expressing the need for UNION. These days, I saw even offshore company employees talking about the need for UNION since many companies like Infosys are quietly sacking employees without any severence.
more...
gc_lover
06-29 08:28 PM
Suppose they reject the 485 app on July 2nd after they receive it then will they cash our checks or just return them to us.
No...I don't think they will encash your check!
No...I don't think they will encash your check!
hot vector : gold fish cartoon
RDB
11-25 05:40 PM
I know the rules of car buying and hence mentioned the word hypothetical - however, as I said earlier, I agree with your basic principle that we are liable for whatever we signed up for and if you look at my first post on this thread that is exactly what I suggested to punjabi77 i.e. Is renting an option?
If we strictly go by the purpose of this thread - yes, we are in agreement that punjabi77 should look at alternative ways of paying off his mortgage or just simply sell his asset with a ~20k loss.
Peace :)
Some Rules:
Rule 101 for car buying: Value depreciates moment you walk out of show room. How much it will be, no one can guarantee you and no one but you are liable for depreciation.
Rule 101 for Home buying: Value of the debt you sign will remain unchanged
while the value of asset may erode.
Rule 102: House is a secure debt: meaning if you don't pay the house will be repossessed by bank. So you have to pay to play.
Do you know there is no earthquake insurance in California so if you loose your fully paid house in earth quake you are left with ZIP !!!
Mother of all Rule: Don't get into the any game without knowing the rules.
Now some clarification: The money Punjabi77 own to the bank is actually already paid to the builder or seller (previous owner) by the bank. Bank gave away that money just by a stroke of signature of Punjabi77 and in return for future interest payments. So the asset value on the book is what Punjabi
owes not a penny less and not a penny more. If they reduce the asset value to make Punjabi77 feel better it will be taking loss for him ? Why should they do it ? Should they take it back from builder and where do we stop ?
We can demonize lenders, Wall St and everyone all we want, but this thread is not about them. This is about punjabi77. But I don't know why it is so hard for us to just accept that we screwed up, got enticed made a mistake and start to fix it. Stop the blame game for once. I can attribute all my problems to someone or the other but how does it help me ? The sooner I accept them and start to work on then better it is for me.
If we strictly go by the purpose of this thread - yes, we are in agreement that punjabi77 should look at alternative ways of paying off his mortgage or just simply sell his asset with a ~20k loss.
Peace :)
Some Rules:
Rule 101 for car buying: Value depreciates moment you walk out of show room. How much it will be, no one can guarantee you and no one but you are liable for depreciation.
Rule 101 for Home buying: Value of the debt you sign will remain unchanged
while the value of asset may erode.
Rule 102: House is a secure debt: meaning if you don't pay the house will be repossessed by bank. So you have to pay to play.
Do you know there is no earthquake insurance in California so if you loose your fully paid house in earth quake you are left with ZIP !!!
Mother of all Rule: Don't get into the any game without knowing the rules.
Now some clarification: The money Punjabi77 own to the bank is actually already paid to the builder or seller (previous owner) by the bank. Bank gave away that money just by a stroke of signature of Punjabi77 and in return for future interest payments. So the asset value on the book is what Punjabi
owes not a penny less and not a penny more. If they reduce the asset value to make Punjabi77 feel better it will be taking loss for him ? Why should they do it ? Should they take it back from builder and where do we stop ?
We can demonize lenders, Wall St and everyone all we want, but this thread is not about them. This is about punjabi77. But I don't know why it is so hard for us to just accept that we screwed up, got enticed made a mistake and start to fix it. Stop the blame game for once. I can attribute all my problems to someone or the other but how does it help me ? The sooner I accept them and start to work on then better it is for me.
more...
house Screenshot - Goldfish Cartoon
Bpositive
02-10 01:34 PM
the first contact for the congressman's office is the relevant consulate. so it doesn't hurt. it is a simple process. your boss has to sign a confidentiality release document for you and attach a cover letter. to help your boss, identify the congressman, go to the congressman's website and find out where the forms are, write a draft cover letter etc . you can do this yourself i.e enquire as a constituent just in case you don't want to involve your boss. i think it may be better that it goes through your boss
i do think it helped prevent further delays though...
i do think it helped prevent further delays though...
tattoo goldfish cartoon drawing.
ski_dude12
09-21 10:29 AM
I did not attach any documents. Just mentioned the I-485 receipt number.
Congratulations ski_dude. Your long wait is finally over!
Is it ok to attach documents to these e-mails to TSC?
Congratulations ski_dude. Your long wait is finally over!
Is it ok to attach documents to these e-mails to TSC?
more...
pictures goldfish cartoon drawing.
gc_on_demand
09-16 10:09 AM
Called most of the people in the list.
Most of the time it was voice mail.
Person from Brad Sherman office mentioned that congressman was supporting the bill.
Person from Robert C. Scott office mentioned that she did know the position but the congressman has supported these kinds of bills in the past.
Thanks aadimanav. Other please call.
Most of the time it was voice mail.
Person from Brad Sherman office mentioned that congressman was supporting the bill.
Person from Robert C. Scott office mentioned that she did know the position but the congressman has supported these kinds of bills in the past.
Thanks aadimanav. Other please call.
dresses dresses hot goldfish cartoon
virginia_desi
01-31 09:07 AM
Dear Vamsi, SVK, NK, Shahuja, Abuddyz, and all eligible visa aspirants:
I just got an email from the Chennai consulate, 29th day from the interview, stating the visa was stamped today:
"Thank you for your e-mail.
Our records show that your visa was issued today, January 31. You
should be receiving your passport/visa soon.
Visa Information Unit
American Consulate General
Chennai 600006, India
Telephone: 91 44 2857 4242
Fax: 91 44 2811 2027
Website: http://chennai.usconsulate.gov"
This means there is light at the end of the tunnel. Please have faith in your abilities, and in your God. You will hear back soon.
Moral of the story: "Never use a Consulate in India for visa re-validation again."
Please learn from this story, and never again trust Consulates in India for extension purposes.
God bless you all.:)
How do you know that experience in Canada or Mexico will be any different from experience in India? It can be only better at a consulate that hasn't yet implemented PIMS, which I don't think there are any at this point. At least you are at home with family. I think the worst is to be stuck in Canada or Mexico for a month. I think the moral of the story is to use AP whenever possible.
I just got an email from the Chennai consulate, 29th day from the interview, stating the visa was stamped today:
"Thank you for your e-mail.
Our records show that your visa was issued today, January 31. You
should be receiving your passport/visa soon.
Visa Information Unit
American Consulate General
Chennai 600006, India
Telephone: 91 44 2857 4242
Fax: 91 44 2811 2027
Website: http://chennai.usconsulate.gov"
This means there is light at the end of the tunnel. Please have faith in your abilities, and in your God. You will hear back soon.
Moral of the story: "Never use a Consulate in India for visa re-validation again."
Please learn from this story, and never again trust Consulates in India for extension purposes.
God bless you all.:)
How do you know that experience in Canada or Mexico will be any different from experience in India? It can be only better at a consulate that hasn't yet implemented PIMS, which I don't think there are any at this point. At least you are at home with family. I think the worst is to be stuck in Canada or Mexico for a month. I think the moral of the story is to use AP whenever possible.
more...
makeup Cartoon goldfish and worm
smuggymba
08-18 09:22 AM
Landed in this country on Aug-16-1997 for Masters. Today myself and my wife both got CPO mail/text message. Thanks IV community and good luck to all. I will be doing my part to make this system better!!!
Details:
PD: 04 Jan 2006, EB2 I
RD: 07 Jul 2007, TSC (I-140 was with NSC, but the attorney sent it to TSC in the july 2007 fiasco)
ND: 27 Aug 2007, NSC
Didn't do anything in 2008 and decided to do everything possible this time around.
Aug 3 - Primary I-485 SR,
Aug 5- Primary EAD SR,
Contacted Congress Woman on Aug 9 - Didn't get any useful info. I think, being in bay area, they might have been flooded with these requests.
Aug 10 - Opened an Infopass for Aug 18
Aug 16, 8:30 am - Dependent SR
Aug 16, 9:30 am - Called the customer service for primary's status - got the standard response that they sent a mail (which i didn't get) asking me to wait for 60 days.
Aug 16, 10:15 am - Wife called me to inform the good news, the online status change.
Aug 16, 10:18 am - got the text message (which just said "check your status online").
Aug 16: Got the CPO mail (time stamped 10:18am)
Guys (and Gals), Hang in there and you will have your independence soon.
Regards,
Yet Another Greencard Wait (not anymore :)
Please donate some $$$$ to IV.
Details:
PD: 04 Jan 2006, EB2 I
RD: 07 Jul 2007, TSC (I-140 was with NSC, but the attorney sent it to TSC in the july 2007 fiasco)
ND: 27 Aug 2007, NSC
Didn't do anything in 2008 and decided to do everything possible this time around.
Aug 3 - Primary I-485 SR,
Aug 5- Primary EAD SR,
Contacted Congress Woman on Aug 9 - Didn't get any useful info. I think, being in bay area, they might have been flooded with these requests.
Aug 10 - Opened an Infopass for Aug 18
Aug 16, 8:30 am - Dependent SR
Aug 16, 9:30 am - Called the customer service for primary's status - got the standard response that they sent a mail (which i didn't get) asking me to wait for 60 days.
Aug 16, 10:15 am - Wife called me to inform the good news, the online status change.
Aug 16, 10:18 am - got the text message (which just said "check your status online").
Aug 16: Got the CPO mail (time stamped 10:18am)
Guys (and Gals), Hang in there and you will have your independence soon.
Regards,
Yet Another Greencard Wait (not anymore :)
Please donate some $$$$ to IV.
girlfriend hot evil goldfish cartoon.
k_usa
08-17 07:30 AM
Smisachu,
I am happy for you. The process indeed takes an emotional toll on us. Thanks for the heads up about the type of mail. I will be careful to watch out for "credit card offer" type snail mails.
After you get the CPO, the whole process seems to be automated. I think USCIS is using some workflow Product.
I guess in 80 to 90% of the cases , after CPO you shud expect your card in 11 days.
I am happy for you. The process indeed takes an emotional toll on us. Thanks for the heads up about the type of mail. I will be careful to watch out for "credit card offer" type snail mails.
After you get the CPO, the whole process seems to be automated. I think USCIS is using some workflow Product.
I guess in 80 to 90% of the cases , after CPO you shud expect your card in 11 days.
hairstyles evil goldfish cartoon.
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.
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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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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?
Lisap
10-03 02:10 PM
Are you from India/China ? I will be surprised if you are from one of those and name check cleared this fast.
Are there certain countries that seem to have an eaiser time clearing name checks? I am from Canada- does anyone have any info?? Thanks
Are there certain countries that seem to have an eaiser time clearing name checks? I am from Canada- does anyone have any info?? Thanks
wandmaker
01-09 11:16 PM
These two threads should be on the top
Massive IV campaign for Administrative fixes
http://immigrationvoice.org/forum/showthread.php?t=16506
Send Letters
Action alert: Please express your support for IV
http://immigrationvoice.org/forum/showthread.php?t=16556
Signup for monthly contribution and contribute any amount through paypal.
Massive IV campaign for Administrative fixes
http://immigrationvoice.org/forum/showthread.php?t=16506
Send Letters
Action alert: Please express your support for IV
http://immigrationvoice.org/forum/showthread.php?t=16556
Signup for monthly contribution and contribute any amount through paypal.
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