#metoo@uscis?
The experience of having to go to the Immigration Office for an interview is difficult for an applicant who has been living in the U.S. without documentation, or a person who is applying to get legal and has some "issues". To be honest, it is scary for someone with a permanent resident card who is going there for a citizenship interview. Over the years, I have helped many of our clients get through the process. I have never worried too much about sending my clients out to USCIS, because I know the personnel there, the guards are friendly and the security process was not too invasive. However, over the past year this really has changed. Now, if you go to USCIS, you will be given a speech about entering a federal facility and getting ONE chance to go through the metal detector. Everything must come out of your pockets, jackets and shoes off, and even jewelry (and fitbit bands!) can be a problem. God forbid that you might wear a piece of underwear (yes, ladies - those underwire bras are a problem!).
If the metal detector is set off, the guard is required to put the person in secondary screening - in front of the entire crowd. This, unfortunately, has evolved into a more offensive experience than going through TSA at the airport. Seriously. As a female person who has recently visited USCIS to represent a client at an interview, and who has recently been subjected to this offensive touching, I am appalled that the process exists and that the screening tools that the guards have are not sufficient. Metal detector. Wand. For someone like me who has been a recent victim of sexual assault, going through this offensive touching by guards caused me to panic and I had to fight the urge to leave.
Unfortunately, I represent many women and children who have been physically abused - that is the nature of my work as an immigration lawyer. Whether it happened abroad or here in the U.S., it seems reasonable that a person applying for a benefit at an Immigration Office, a federal facility, should not have to be manhandled just to go inside and possibly re-live a painful experience.
I recently returned from a week of volunteering at the South Texas Family Detention Facility. There, I entered through security twice a day and was wanded every time. Nothing as offensive as the treatment that I received at the USCIS office in Kansas City.
If you, or someone you know, has been offended by the actions of the guards at any of the immigration offices, I am interested in speaking with you. Please contact me at angela@austinferguson.com or call our office at 816-356-7100.
In the meantime, protect yourselves from offensive touching when you enter a federal facility. I do not recommend going nude, but make sure that you don't wear any of those offensive undergarments, wear jewelry, or have piercings that might set off the machine! Be prepared and report anything that happens that seems out of line. IF you are a person who refuses to be patted down, manhandled, by a male guard, you can insist on waiting for a female guard to be called. The Security Company headquarters is nearby and they have agreed to send a female over to USCIS if the need arises.
