Postal bureaucratic mess in Chicago gives immigration excuse to deny man

Let’s hear it for the U.S. Postal Service, which at least is willing to admit it screwed up in its efforts to deliver to a Chicago-based immigration office in a timely manner a New York man’s application to remain in the United States.

Admitting their error

The result, as reported by the New York Times, is that the man who had been in this country under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, has been denied the legal permission to remain in this country and is now expected to leave on his own – or else face deportation.

A RESULT THAT may well please the ideologue nitwits who think serious reform of our immigration policies is anything that results in more deportations.

But this particular situation, even when one takes into account the fact that in this Age of Trump officials are looking for any way they can to encourage people to leave, is little more than an embarrassment to those who believe in the “American Way” of life.

It definitely is evidence that Trump-ites don’t have a clue how to “Make America Great Again,” and most likely have no real interest in doing so.

This particular incident involved a New York area resident who back in mid-September sent through certified mail his paperwork to gain an extension on the status by which he has been able to live openly in this country in recent years.

Not their problem. Or so they say!

ALL THROUGH THE DACA program that was the creation of now-former President Barack Obama and meant to let people who had lived the bulk of their lives in this country remain here – even if their immigration status and circumstances of their arrivals here were less than pristine.

But current President Donald Trump has made it clear that DACA is one of the many initiatives of Obama that have to go – as though Trump is determined to have the legacy of the man who erased Obama from the national conscience.

Maybe the ideologues think they can pretend that Obama never really existed, and that the electorate of this country never was deluded enough to pick someone so unlike themselves to be our nation’s chief executive?

Trump types might be pleased, but that's all

In this particular case, the application was mailed from New York on Sept. 14. It needed to be received by a regional processing warehouse of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office by Oct. 5.

RECORDS SHOW THAT the piece of mail made it to the Chicago-area by Sept. 16, then from Sept. 17-19 was “in transit to destination.” At which point, it sort of disappeared until Oct. 4 when it was “on its way” and ultimately delivered on Oct. 6.

But if you note the dates and consult a calendar, you’ll see his application that was sent nearly a month in advance was received one day too late.

Which is the reason immigration officials officially gave for rejecting the application. Not because of the merits of the case, but because of the postal delay – which Postal Service officials admitted to the New York Times was a problem on their end.

It should not have taken anywhere near so long for that piece of mail to get from New York to Chicago. But immigration officials are claiming that’s not their problem, and they’re not about to do anything to resolve this case in a responsible manner.

Some determined to erase Obama from memory

IT MAKES ME think of whenever conservative ideologues complain about government bureaucracy and try channeling Ronald Reagan by saying “government IS the problem.”

They actually don’t care. They like it if bureaucratic bungles wind up advancing their ideological desires. In this case, they’d probably think it just that a mail delay were to cause someone who has lived the bulk of his life here and is more than capable of making contributions to our society were to be given the boot.

All of which is such an embarrassment to those of us in the majority who’d like to see the so-called “American ideals” implemented in ways that actually benefit our society.

Otherwise, we wind up looking buffoonish and mean-spirited – if we’re willing to let a Postal Service glitch determine the outcome of someone’s life. That’s most definitely not something that “Makes America Great Again.”

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