On March 30, 2011 USCIS in Cleveland, Ohio provided an listening session for what they’ve deemed Transformation. This new project will take USCIS into the 21st century technology by providing an avenue for electronic filing. The listening session was designed to provide members of the defense bar and community leaders the opportunity to see the interface, provide feedback on its usability and raise potential legal issues for the future. There will be, according the leadership, several releases over the next few years that will institute levels of detail, additional function and provide more access to client files. USCIS partnered with IBM for the Transformation project.
Initially, it should be noted that USCIS is strongly considering mandating electronic filing. They’ve provided a stakeholders teleconference on April 8, 2011 to provide relevant feedback on this issue alone. This mandate should concern the general public and the defense bar especially. Many of our clients are not technologically savvy. The farmer who walked to the border from Guatemala, the 90 year old grandmother from Canada who refused to convert to the technology age and those who are simply not well versed in the English language are at risk. Mandating the use of technology is simply not for them and if they can’t afford an attorney then the need to engage someone who may not be as skilled or as reputable to complete the filing. Even the federal court system, at all levels, allows for paper filing. While electronic filing is strongly encouraged, access to the courts is not denied for those who remain paper oriented. As any petitioner or applicant is making a substantive admission to the federal government and their Due Process rights are therefore implicated, the individual should control the mode in which they make their filing.
As for the interface itself, it appears fairly user-friendly. Attorneys, accredited representatives and individuals will create profiles. These profiles will be used to initiate the filings. The profiles have multiple layers of security including PIN’s to phones and identity questions. Of concern is the ability for notarios to create a generic email for the individual, then create the individual profile and thus skip the necessity of logging into the system as an attorney or an accredited representative. We raised this issue with the participants from both USCIS and IBM and they seemed to be concerned with resolving this issue as well.
Eventually, all cases will be moved to electronic filing and storage. New cases that are filed electronically will remain. Older cases that have been in the system will not be integrated unless there is new filing. Even then the new filing will not “pull” the older data. At some point in the future, we’ll be able to access client A-Files files using their alien registration number and their I-94 number. Much of this will appear in the future releases once integration with other agencies (such as CBP, ICE, and DOL) is complete.
The positive is that we’re moving into the technology age. The negatives are the potential mandatory nature of the program and the legal issues. I’m hopeful that USCIS will not only continue to offer listening sessions, but will not be blind to the suggestions.
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Posted by: USCIS Lawyer | 06/16/2011 at 04:07 AM