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NEWS BYTES
Charles Oppenheim, an official at the State Department, has indicated that Chinese and Indian priority dates will remain current in February, but beginning in March, Indian second and third preference employment immigration petitions will be backlogged again. They will likely back up to July 1999. Chinese dates are expected to remain current in March. The retrogression in numbers has long been expected and will likely go back much further. The numbers became current in 1999 after the INS halted processing on thousands of permanent residency cases. This caused the annual quotas to not be left unfilled and the dates moved from being backlogged several years for Indians and Chinese to being current. The good news is that the retrogression signifies that the INS is making progress in working through the backlog of adjustment cases.

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The INS presence in Colorado will be more significant in 2000.  The Service is adding 52 new agents in the state, doubling the number stationed there.  The agency hopes the new manpower will allow it to overcome the criticism it has faced in Colorado, that there are never any agents available when local law enforcement officials call to report undocumented workers being transported on the state’s roads.  According to local officials, busy months saw as many as 1300 people apprehended on the state’s roads.  The new agents will be stationed in existing offices as well as in five new offices across the state.  One of these new offices has been targeted by local activists who feel the office will do nothing more than target Hispanic residents for harassment.

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We have received word that the INS Texas Service Center has halted work on all I-140 employment-based immigration cases. The agency is instead putting its resources toward working through the massive backlog of I-485 applications. No word yet on how long the freeze on I-140 processing will last.