Washington: A presidential advisory commission has unanimously voted to recommend US President Joe Biden to process all applications for green cards or permanent residency within six months, a proposal if adopted is likely to bring cheers to the hundreds and thousands of Indian-Americans, including those waiting for it for decades.A Green Card, known officially as a Permanent Resident Card, is a document issued to immigrants to the US as evidence that the bearer has been granted the privilege of residing permanently in the US. Indian IT professionals, most of whom are highly skilled and come to the US mainly on the H-1B work visas, are the worst sufferers of the current immigration system which imposes a seven per cent per country quota on allotment of the coveted Green Card or permanent legal residency.The recommendations of the President's Advisory Commission on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (PACAANHPI) are to be sent to the White House now for approval.If adopted, it is likely to bring cheers to the hundreds and thousands of Indian-Americans and those waiting, some even for decades, for a Green Card. A proposal on the issue was moved by eminent Indian-American community leader Ajay Jain Bhutoria during the meeting of the PACAANHPI, during which all its 25 commissioners unanimously approved it. The proceedings of the meeting here in the national capital were webcast live last week.To reduce the pending Green Card backlog, the advisory commission recommended the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to review their processes, systems and policies and establish new internal cycle time goals by streamlining processes, removing redundant steps if any, automating any manual approvals, improving their internal dashboards and reporting system and enhancing policies. The recommendations aim to reduce the cycle time for processing all forms related to family-based Green Card applications, DACA renewals and all other Green Card applications within six months and issue adjudicate decisions within six months of applications received by it.The commission recommended National Visa Center (NVC) State Department facility to hire additional officers to increase their capacity to process Green Card applications interviews by 100 per cent in three months from August 2022, and to increase Green Card Card applications visa interviews and adjudicate decisions by 150 per cent up from capacity of 32,439 in April 2022 -- by April 2023. Thereafter Green Card visa interviews and visa processing timeline should be a maximum of six months, it said.Aimed at making it easier for the immigrants to stay and work in the country, the commission recommended that the USCIS should review requests for work permits, travel documents and temporary status extensions or changes within three months and adjudicate decisions. Only 65,452 family preference green cards were issued in fiscal 2021 out of the annual 226,000 green cards available, leaving hundreds of thousands of green cards unused (with many likely to be permanently wasted in the future) and keeping many more families needlessly separated.There were 421,358 pending interviews in April compared to 436,700 in March, said the policy paper by Bhutoria. Noting that while the US population has grown substantially in recent decades, the immigration system has not changed to keep pace, he said.The annual levels of immigration were established in the early 1990s and have remained largely unchanged since then, he said. To make matters worse, the method used to calculate the annual number of employment-and-family-based immigration is deeply flawed, and has led to family-based immigration levels being set at their absolute minimum every year for the past 20 years, while hundreds of thousands of green cards for family members go wasted, never used by any individuals when they could be used to reunite families instead, Bhutoria said.The extraordinary wait time for a Green Card to be available causes significant hardship for American families forced to wait decades to reunite with their loved ones, even though those individuals are already qualified to immigrate right now. "Family separation takes a terrible emotional toll on families, and it imposes clear logistical, economic, and emotional hardships on families, and the growing nature of the backlogs makes the process uncertain and future planning impossible, he said. Among other things, the commission also recommended the USCIS to expand premium processing to additional employment-based Green Card applications, all work permit petitions, and temporary immigration status extension requests, allowing applicants to pay USD 2,500 to have their cases adjudicated within 45 days in a phased approach.—PTI

A presidential advisory commission has unanimously voted to recommend US President Joe Biden to process all applications for green cards or permanent residency within six months, a proposal if adopted is likely to bring cheers to the hundreds and thousands of Indian-Americans, including those waiting for it for decades.

Process all Green Cards within 6 months, Presidential commission votes

America

Houston: Two people were killed and three others critically injured in a shooting at a flea market in Houston, the largest city of the US state Texas, authorities said.The shooting allegedly took place on Sunday due to a fight among the five male victims, the Harris County Sheriff’s Office said.The victims all appear to be in their early-to mid-20s and likely knew each other, officials said, noting they do not believe the shooting was random, Xinhua news agency reported. No innocent bystanders were hurt although the flea market was very busy at Sunday afternoon when the shooting took place. Harris County Sheriff, Ed Gonzalez said it is estimated that there were “thousands” at the flea market when the gun shots were fired. Two possible suspects were detained and a third was taken to a hospital, according to an ABC News report. The Sheriff’s office said at least two pistols have been recovered from the crime scene.—IANS

Two people were killed and three others critically injured in a shooting at a flea market in Houston, the largest city of the US state Texas, authorities said.

2 killed, 3 injured in US Houston flea market shooting

California: One person was killed, and five others were injured in a shooting on Sunday at a church in the western US state of California, the Orange County Sheriff's Department said. The shooting was reported at the church on the 24000 block of El Toro Road in the City of Laguna Woods in Southern California's Orange County on Sunday afternoon, according to the Orange County Sheriff's Department. The sheriff's department tweeted about 2:00 pm local time that deputies were responding to reports of the shooting. It added later that "dispatch received calls of a shooting inside Geneva Presbyterian Church at 1:26 pm. Four victims have been critically wounded, one with minor injuries.""All victims are adults and are en route to the hospital. One victim is deceased at the scene," said the department.<img src="https://im.rediff.com/news/2022/may/16shooting1.jpg?w=670&amp;h=900">The gunfire erupted during a lunch reception honouring a former pastor of a Taiwanese congregation that has services at Geneva, according to a statement from the Presbytery of Los Ranchos, a church administrative body.The sheriff's department noted that it had detained a suspect at the scene and had recovered a weapon that may be involved.California Governor Gavin Newsom's office tweeted,"We are actively monitoring the shooting at a church in Laguna Woods and working closely with local law enforcement. No one should have to fear going to their place of worship. Our thoughts are with the victims, community, and all those impacted by this tragic event."—ANI

One person was killed, and five others were injured in a shooting on Sunday at a church in the western US state of California, the Orange County Sheriff's Department said.

1 killed, 5 injured in California church shooting

Washington: The man who carried out the shooting in the city of Buffalo, where ten people were killed, was charged with first-degree murder, the article that provides for life imprisonment, Erie County district attorney John Flynn said on Saturday."This individual has been arraigned on murder in the first degree, which is the highest charge -- murder charge in New York state. It carries with it a sentence of life without parole, the highest punishment we have a New York state.The judge ordered a forensic examination.A felony hearing will now take place in five days. And then the investigation continues," Flynn said at a press conference. According to Flynn, authorities are also evaluating the possibility of charging the Buffalo shooter with terrorism.At least 10 people were killed in a shooting at a supermarket in the American city of Buffalo, local news agency&nbsp;Buffalo News&nbsp;reported on Saturday, citing law enforcement sources.The media cited police as saying that a man wearing body armor entered a Tops Friendly Market after 2:30 pm EST (18:30 GMT) and opened fire with a rifle, resulting in 10 people, including one police officer, dead and three injured.The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation suspects that the shooting in the city of Buffalo, was a racially motivated hate crime, Stephen Belongia, special agent in charge of the FBI's Buffalo field office said on Saturday."We are investigating this incident as both a hate crime and a case of racially motivated violent extremism," Belongia said during a briefing, reported Sputnik media.As per a tweet from Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz, Buffalo police responded to the scene of an "active multiple shooting event" at the Tops Markets on Jefferson Street in the city.The Buffalo police department gave out the information regarding the incident in a tweet and urged people to avoid the area."BPD on scene of a mass shooting at the Tops in the 1200 block of Jefferson Avenue," it tweeted adding, "Police say multiple people have been struck by gunfire. The shooter is in custody. Motorists and residents are urged to avoid the area."Expressing condolence in a tweet after the incident, Erie County Sheriff's Office stated that Sheriff John Garcia "has ordered all available resources and personnel to assist" the police, as per the media portal.New York Governor Kathy Hochul said that she is taking stock of the situation.In a tweet, she wrote, "I am closely monitoring the shooting at a grocery store in Buffalo. We have offered assistance to local officials. If you are in Buffalo, please avoid the area and follow guidance from law enforcement and local officials."—ANI

The man who carried out the shooting in the city of Buffalo, where ten people were killed, was charged with first-degree murder, the article that provides for life imprisonment, Erie County district attorney John Flynn said on Saturday.

Shooter who killed 10 in US supermarket may be charged with terrorism

Washington: Jen Psaki has signed off as the White House Press Secretary after serving in the post for 15 months and holding 224 media briefings. “I want to say thank you to the President and the First Lady. They entrusted me in serving in this role for the last 15 months,” Psaki said during her last briefing at the White House on Friday.She also extended appreciation to the White House’s press team, as well as to reporters in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room. “You have challenged me, you have pushed me, you have debated me, and at times we have disagreed. That is democracy in action. That is it working. “Thank you for what you do Thank you for making me better. And most importantly, thank you for the work every day you do to make this country stronger,” she added. Friday’s appearance was Psaki’s 224th White House briefing over her tenure that began the day Joe Biden was sworn in as the President in January 2021. Karine Jean-Pierre is the new White House press secretary, becoming both the first African American and openly LGBTQ person to hold the position. As an assistant to the US President, the White House Press Secretary provides daily briefings for the media on the administration’s activities and agenda.—IANS

Jen Psaki has signed off as the White House Press Secretary after serving in the post for 15 months and holding 224 media briefings.