From your newspaper columns to the talk on the streets, the subject of immigration seems to address "illegal immigration" and "undocumented workers." Hardly anyone talks about the immigrants who have legally entered the United States but have been waiting years and years to obtain permanent status, get a green card and ultimately become citizens.

Some say that stories of legal immigrants are just not newsworthy, especially compared with the dramatic stories of immigrants who scale walls, narrowly escaping border guards to enter the USA.

There are an estimated 5 million or more legal immigrants in the U.S. who have patiently followed the rules, hired legal counsel and waded through a bureaucratic nightmare of lost paperwork and resubmissions, sometimes starting back at the end of a line to obtain their permanent status.

If citizens had to work within the immigration process, there would be an uproar and demands for reformation heard from here to Washington, D.C.

I personally know families who have been legal immigrants for many years but are unable to take part in basic human activities such as working to provide for their families, obtaining insurance, owning property and other ways of contributing to society.

When questioned, the Immigration and Naturalization Service claims the years of delay and lost files are due to a backlog in the INS office. I have to believe this is true; I've observed that the INS asks and checks and rechecks the paperwork of applicants again and again. This constant retreading of ground is a waste of time that only increases the delay and backlog.

The process to legally enter the USA is in itself arduous: A potential immigrant is interviewed numerous times, fingerprinted, sometimes required to submit DNA, taken through a thorough FBI background check and profiled to satisfy the Homeland Security rules.

Once he has been through that thorough vetting, shouldn't obtaining permanent residency be welcoming and nearly paperless? I believe a person who enters the USA legally and having gone through such a thorough background check should be able to live like you and me live in the USA.

Please pay special attention to the frustration of legal immigrants, and collectively resolve the problems within the immigration process, reforming the INS. Help these legal immigrations and their families become healthy contributors to the society they have chosen before the only rational option left to them is to also decide to enter illegally, get a job the first day they are here and also make a story. -Arif Kazmi, Chandler
The writer is president of the Arizona Asian American Association.

"With a barrage of suicide bombings racking Iraq, London and, now, the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm al-Sheikh, the grating, difficult questions that have gnawed at Western society since the advent of radical Islamofascism are back................................................

Plenty of responsible Islamic leaders would take strong issue with the conclusions of Feinstein and others who criticize the "silence" of Muslim religious leaders. One such leader, in fact, Dr. Arif Kazmi of Chandler, does so in a letter to the editor today on this page. "

"As he notes, Kazmi has organized a rally in Tempe for Friday. It is our fervent hope that the Valley's imams join him and lash out unmercifully against the men who kill in the name of their religion".

"For their efforts to decry the destructiveness of radical Islamists, such Muslim leaders as Kazmi.................who has organized rallies in Phoenix against terror, can be described only as brave".

"But that, indeed, is part of the problem. They must be brave because there remain far too many Muslim hearts and minds aligned against them".

"If, as Kazmi says, the media have failed to cover the Muslim outcry against violence, then there is but one response to that failure.  Cry out louder. And more fervently, until no one, including the killers, can miss the message".
 

Giving back has never been so easy for the members of the Pakistan Information and Cultural Organization.

At least once a month, a team of group members gathers to volunteer its time to charities.

"Immigrants of all countries should do this," said PICO founder Arif Kazmi, 54, of Chandler. "When you start taking part in these things and getting to know the problems of this country, when you start feeding the hungry, when you go and work with shelters, you really get to know the issues."

The group, which started as a number in the phone book so Valley residents and officials could get information about Pakistan, evolved into the non-profit PICO in 2000. The volunteer projects were kicked off immediately.

Kazmi said the idea was to give back.

"I said, 'You have made money, now it's your turn to give back,' " Kazmi said.

Volunteer projects have ranged from serving food at Paz de Cristo Community Center in Mesa to taking calls at KAET Channel 8 in Tempe.

On Saturday, volunteers helped out in the kitchen of St. Mary's Food Bank in Phoenix, one of PICO member Kamran Shah's most enjoyable efforts.

"It makes you feel good," said Shah, 34. "Serving food makes you thank God that we're in a position to help."

Shah has been a member of the group for more than four years and rarely misses a chance to give back, especially when the group is working in Gilbert, where he lives.

"It's my way of giving back to my city," Shah said.

Because the group's membership is well over 300, teams of 20 to 25 are chosen based on their interests.

PICO also helps organize many cultural activities, such as Eid/Ramadan picnics, Basant, or kite-flying festival, and the annual Arizona Asian Festival in downtown Phoenix.