Fingerprint Snafu Plagues INS System

Shanti Roy has stared at her delicate fingertips for hours and still cannot understand why immigration officials have told her they are no good.

Since she applied for citizenship in 1996, the retired nurse from New Delhi has been sent for fingerprinting three times, and each time the Immigration and Naturalization Service has told her the print patterns were indiscernible or unacceptable.

“I can’t understand what the problem is,” said Roy, who has permanent resident status in the United States. “We’re trying to follow the law, but after three times, it is quite frustrating.”

Like thousands of other citizenship seekers throughout the country, the 63-year-old Canoga Park resident, who left India in 1989, is being asked to submit new fingerprints for criminal background checks.

The reason is either that the prints were rejected or the original background check has sat idle in an INS office past the 15-month expiration period and the fingerprints must be retaken to ensure that the person has not committed recent crimes.

Now, eager to ease the unprecedented backlog of 2 million immigrants nationwide--about 10% of them in Southern California--who need to be reprinted, the INS is launching an initiative that includes a fleet of 45 vans that will roam the nation gathering prints.

With two Ford Windstar vans designated for the seven Southern California counties, the fingerprint-mobile’s first Los Angeles stop will be the San Fernando Valley, where more than 5,000 applications are pending.

INS officials say the mobile fingerprint units are designed primarily to reach elderly immigrants, disabled persons and shut-ins, but will also be used in Los Angeles to help the crush of others who need to be reprinted. In addition, at the INS application support center in downtown Los Angeles, fingerprints are being taken with 10 electronic fingerprint scanners that capture a more detailed image of lines and creases on a person’s hand.

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The scanners have been particularly helpful with senior citizens like Roy. The fingerprint vans and improved print technology are part of an INS effort to break through the backlog, but immigrant advocates say the logistics still need to be worked out and remain skeptical.

At the East Valley Multipurpose Senior Center in North Hollywood, 3,300 legal immigrants--many of them seniors--are stuck in the INS pipeline. According to Geneva Ruiz-Hyatt, immigration program manager for the center, more than 600 need to be reprinted.

“The INS has taken a lot of criticism, and much of it rightfully so,” Ruiz-Hyatt said. “This finally seems to be something positive. But it’s been really slow in coming.”

Ruiz-Hyatt, who assists thousands of Valley immigrants in completing citizenship applications, said that elderly newcomers often arrive in this country with conditions that complicate the process. Some suffer from health problems that make traveling to any of the 12 INS fingerprint centers almost impossible. Others have mental deficiencies that necessitate extra time in explaining procedures. And still others have lost the characteristic prints on their fingers because of the natural process of aging.

“What happens when you get older is that your fingerprints wipe away,” said Ruiz-Hyatt, “or you get arthritis and your fingers curl up, or you tremble. All these things make it difficult. The young people can fend for themselves, but the elderly and disabled need a guiding light.”

INS officials say they recognize those problems. Raul Acosta, director of the INS fingerprint centers in Los Angeles, said the mobile units will use a special solution that when rubbed on a person’s fingers helps pick up the best print possible.

“Sometimes there are rejects because of a person’s profession,” he said. “A construction worker or someone who does intensive labor is always tougher to print.”

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Although the vans will not initially be equipped with electronic fingerprint scanners, Acosta said, the agency is testing portable scanners to be used in the vans later this year.

Fingerprints had also been rejected because of problems with spotting or mistakes on the biographical data portion of the cards. To combat that, the agency has begun using bar codes, which have cut down on rejections. Eventually, with the use of the new technology, the INS hopes to have a direct link to the FBI, which would mean that the criminal check could be done on the spot.

But immigrant advocates voiced fear that the new measures will make the backlog worse. Ruiz-Hyatt said scheduling problems have occurred where clients had mistakenly been directed to El Monte for printing. Another concern is that the two vans designated for Los Angeles will not be able to accommodate the entire region.

“They’re telling us that if it goes well on Wednesday, they may be able to come out every two weeks,” said Marv Wilk, assistant director of citizenship at the East Valley center. “I’ll believe it when I see it.”

In Roy’s case, any delay is critical. She and her husband, Ayiuc, live on her $600 monthly Social Security check--a benefit that could expire if citizenship isn’t granted.

“We are just barely getting by,” she said. “I try to keep my spirits up and stay happy. If I think about what would happen if I lost my benefits, I become too depressed.”

And, though the couple are upset, they do not fault the INS.

“They are trying their best, and we also are trying our best,” said Ayiuc Roy. “Somehow we have to meet in the middle.”