Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Tom Ridge recently addressed the attendees of the US Citizenship and Immigration Services Civic Integration Symposium in honor of Constitution Week, giving the crowd an overview of the DHS’s positive steps and accomplishments, as well as goals for the future.

Ridge mentioned in his speech that Constitution Week’s celebrations began with Citizenship Day ceremonies, which welcomed more than 20,000 new citizens in communities across the country.  In order to help these people become acclimated to life as active citizens, USCIS has put together an orientation guide for new immigrants that has just been launched.  The guide contains basic information such as how to participate in local government or become involved in the community, as well as practical information such as how to obtain a driver’s license, get a social security number or open a bank account.

Ridge said a major goal of Homeland Security has been to improve immigration customer service and immigration practices, such as InfoPass.  InfoPass has virtually eliminated the waiting-in-line aspect of immigration offices.  Now, customers can go online to make an appointment rather than standing in line.  The process is even easier, thanks to the new E-Filing initiative, allowing applicants to complete the most popular forms online.  He said that by the end of fiscal year 2006, E-Filing would include a total of 12 forms that will account for more than 90% of the applications for benefits filed yearly.

Ridge said another focus for DHS is to eliminate the immigration backlog.  To date, DHS has completed 1.1 million more cases this year compared to the same period a year ago.  Ridge said the progress has not necessarily come from hiring more people, but rather from improvements to the process made by CIS.  He said that DHS expects to meet its goal of having the backlog down to zero by 2006.