Green Card Bureaucracy

Have you been down to the Immigration and Naturalization Service lately or do you know of anyone who has? If not, then let me paint a picture for you. I was living overseas for the last two years and in that time the INS decided it was necessary for people with pre-1979 green cards to get new ones and pay $75 for them. My mother, a green card holder for 30-plus years, is a petite senior with arthritis in her hip. We hoped we could take care of this business in one day, waiting however long need be.

With all our necessary paperwork filled out, we went downtown to the Federal Building one morning, where we waited 3 1/2 hours before we could even step foot in the building. A few minutes later an INS employees, who decided not to use the bullhorn sitting on the counter in front of her, softly whispered into the crowded room that there were no more tickets left. Huh? What were these tickets? I was not sure. I could sympathize with the Spanish-speaking people in line who were more clueless to the English-only announcement. Apparently, we needed a ticket in order to get to the next line. We went home and my mother spent several days in bed physically recovering from standing so long.

The following week we arrived at 6:45 a.m. and had to wait only to 8:10 a.m. to find out that there were no more tickets. I concluded that the people who were able to get into the building had been waiting since 1 a.m. or 2 a.m. As we left, my mother told me she had thought about applying for citizenship while she stood in line, but decided she did not want to be part of a government that would treat her so inhumanely.

Waiting was not frustrating. It was waiting and leaving with nothing accomplished that made us bitter. I phoned the INS to try to set up an appointment and, after countless recorded messages and waiting, I finally got a hold of a live representative who told me appointments could not be arranged no matter how poor a person’s health is. She did give me the names of different private organizations recognized by the INS that could handle this for us. The numbers I phoned told me they do not handle replacement of green cards because the holder must go down to the INS in person to take care of the matter.

I feel like I am caught in this grand circle that is going nowhere. I cannot figure out why a simple matter such as this seems almost impossible to accomplish. I would appreciate it if someone could explain how to replace a green card without having to spend thousands of dollars on lawyers’ fees or sleeping outside the Federal Building.

AMY WILSON

North Hollywood