INS update . . .
Although I can't seem to post a link, there has just been a class action suit filed against the INS in Southern California for breaking a 3-year contract with the private fingerprinting businesses, and a request for an injunction to prevent the new system from coming online. The suit alleges that Dyncorp will be taking the fingerprints, not the INS. INS denies this is the case, and says Dyncorp is simply setting up the offices, and INS staff will do the fingerprints. Given there was a change in the law, I really doubt this suit can succeed. The best they can hope for is that Dyncorp is thrown out of actually taking fingerprints as federal contractors, if that is the plan, which it apparently isn't. Besides, contracts do not override federal law. They are instead subject to the law, even when the law changes.
Meanwhile, in bigger news: On January 18, Doris Meissner, the head of the INS, was interviewed by the Orange Country Register and quoted as saying that "A new computer system is coming into place in the next four to six months. That software will eliminate a lot of the manual staff, which frees up staff and speeds up the process." That puts installation in the May to July time frame. |
