In January, 2013, CAIR-WA met with Imam Abdi*, an imam of a mosque in Washington State, to discuss the status of his green card application. Though he arrived to the U.S. as a refugee in 2005 and then applied for Permanent Resident status in 2006, Imam Abdi continues what has been a six year struggle to see that his I-485 Application to Adjust to Permanent Residency is processed. The standard time of approval for an I-485 document is four months.
Since applying for permanent residency in 2006, Imam Abdi has been called in for fingerprints by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Seattle Field Office each year, sometimes more than once a year.
In addition to these unexplained fingerprint sessions, he has experienced significant delays when flying domestically for conferences and seminars.
Despite Imam Abdi’s unending cooperation with these procedures, when contacted, not one government official has offered to explain why the fingerprinting is taking place, why Imam Abdi has been selected for additional screening and delays during flying procedures at airports, or why his application continues to remain unprocessed.
The USCIS Seattle Field Office tells Imam Abdi that the Nebraska Service Center has his application while the Nebraska Service Center contradicts this by saying the USCIS in Seattle possesses his file.
Abdi believes his processing for Permanent Residency Status is being delayed because he is a religious leader.
After meeting with him about his case, CAIR-WA sent a letter of inquiry to the USCIS detailing this man’s circumstances and asking for an explanation as to why the processing of his I-485 application has seen extended delay.
After one month, CAIR-WA did not receive a response to our inquiry, so we emailed the National Director of USCIS, Alejandro Mayorkas, directly. Within one hour, Mr. Mayorkas responded and connected us with the Acting Chief of the Project Liasion Team in the Office of the Director. The Chief requested all documents and is currently reviewing them to provide a response.
*Name changed to protect privacy