Immigration Service? More Like No Service

I am Jason Giannetti and I am an immigration attorney in Coolidge Corner, Brookline, MA. Below is a cover letter I sent last Friday to U.S. Immigration and Customs Services (USCIS) on behalf of a client. Though there is a lot of coverage in the news about the plight of immigrants and asylum seekers, the other ways in which this current regime is making it difficult for immigrants also deserves attention and this is happening right here in Boston.

Dear Officer:
After two weeks of unsuccessfully attempting to schedule an InfoPass appointment on-line in order to submit the enclosed letter and response to the RFE by hand at the Boston Field Office, I went in to the USCIS Boston office today, without an appointment. I was told by the officer at the reception desk that the computer has been down for two weeks and therefore no one has been able to schedule an InfoPass appointment on-line, as requested by USCIS.
In addition, when I told the officer that I wished to submit the documents by hand, he said that I could not submit them to him, nor would he allow me to see an officer without an appointment. Furthermore, he said that the USCIS InfoPass appointment office would be open only every other week henceforth, thereby making it even more difficult to make an appointment.
I am thus submitting the enclosed documents by mail.
I will say that the incapacity of the webpage for two weeks, the lack of allowing a walk-in appointment since there is no other way of making an appointment, and the reducing the hours of appointments by half all seem to be in keeping with the current regime’s stated policies and clear efforts aimed at, if not shutting down legal immigration altogether, then making it as difficult and cumbersome as possible to legally immigrate to this country. I find all of these obstacles to compliance with the law objectionable and possibly unconstitutional. At the very least, they are not in keeping with the idea of a government that is the servant of the people and not the other way around. “Service” is in the name of USCIS and, until recently, was part of its mission statement. To be a “public servant,” which your organization’s officials are and which every elected official – right to the top – is, means to serve the people (note, not just the citizens), of the United States. These policies and procedures, in my opinion, seem to be intentionally frustrating the legal process and the foundational principles of this country’s government.
Sincerely,

Jason Giannetti, Esq.