"We need more INS service workers in Iowa to help naturalize citizens, adjust immigration status applications and authorize employment," Grassley said. There are a growing number of individuals being served by the INS office in Des Moines, but the number of INS personnel in Iowa has actually decreased.
Grassley made his first request of the Bush administration for additional staff for Immigration and Naturalization Service in Iowa in a letter last May to Attorney General John Ashcroft. Grassley pressed for a positive response during a Judiciary Committee hearing in July. Today, Iowa's senior senator said he appreciated the decision to add service positions for the INS office in Des Moines.
"I've been making the case for more caseworkers for Iowa since we got the first INS office opened in Iowa in 1996. It's been an uphill battle with the INS rejecting requests year after year. So it's very gratifying to have the new administration respond in a positive manner and demonstrate an understanding of the importance of making sure Iowa is equipped to process legal immigration cases," Grassley said.
In a letter to Grassley this month, the Assistant Attorney General said the following new service positions have been authorized for the INS office in Des Moines:
"Our state's economic future depends on our ability to attract a significant number of new residents. And the bureaucratic backlog at the INS has resulted in Iowa losing potential employees to larger metropolitan areas of the country where the INS provides better services. Iowa taxpayers deserve their fair share of the federal dollars controlled by the INS," Grassley said.
In his May letter to Ashcroft, Grassley included an analysis by the American Immigration Lawyers Association which shows the processing times at the INS office in Omaha are several times longer than they are in other metropolitan areas for paperwork dealing with permanent residence, naturalization and work authorization.
In addition to requesting more personnel, Grassley asked the Attorney General to allow the INS personnel working in Des Moines to authorize work and family-based visas to try and ease the processing backlog. Currently, those procedures are controlled by the INS office located in Omaha.
In 1996, Grassley was instrumental in getting the INS to locate offices in Iowa for both service personnel and law enforcement officers. Before that, Iowa had to rely on the Omaha office. Since then, Grassley has worked to secure additional service personnel for the office in Des Moines, despite resistance from the INS to locate more caseworkers in Iowa. Before this year, the INS claimed that among the 35 INS regions across the country, the casework backlog in the region which includes Iowa is less severe than 25 other regions.
Grassley is a senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is responsible for immigration policy.