A toll-free number for information on citizenship issues is giving harmful advice, a group of attorneys claims.

By Ann M. Simmons
Times Staff Writer

A customer service telephone system run by immigration authorities is frustrating, inefficient, and in some cases has provided such bad advice that clients have been detained or deported, according to immigration lawyers, who are pressing to have the service scrapped.

Last June, the Department of Homeland Security cut off telephone access to immigration offices around the country, where most applications for citizenship or changes in immigration status are decided. Instead, the department's Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services directed the public to use a toll-free National Customer Service Center telephone system to resolve immigration-related problems.

But lawyers charge that contractors without proper knowledge of immigration law now staff the phones, and that the new system is making already bad service worse.

"It's the No. 1 source of aggravation among attorneys and the general public," said Jeffrey Goldman, a Boston-based immigration attorney, who has been bombarded with complaints from frustrated clients.

Telephone operators at the service center have been unable to provide meaningful assistance, and in some cases have provided wrong information — leading to delays and rejections of applications, said legal specialists at the Washington-based American Immigration Lawyers Assn.

"The system is utterly inadequate for problem resolution," said Bob Deasy, who chairs a liaison group that links the immigration lawyers' group and the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Officials at the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services maintain that the new phone system is working "quite well," and the agency's monthly customer service surveys show an average 80% satisfaction rate, said spokesman Russ Knocke.

"It's definitely intended to be more effective," said Knocke in a recent phone interview from Washington. "It empowers our customers to be able to speak with a knowledgeable customer service representative. Busy signals were common before."

In the past, customers could make inquiries at the specific immigration service center where their case was being processed. Now, all calls are channeled through an "800" number that feeds into offices where critics say clerical-type personnel respond to queries from prepared scripts. Information officers are on hand to field more complex questions. But issues that cannot immediately be tackled are referred to a specific service center, which has up to 30 days to respond to the customer in writing.

Activists are demanding that complex cases be immediately transferred to officials who can resolve problems relating to the processing of cases.

"They know generally what forms can be given out, where to file, and how much to pay," said Deasy of the phone operators. "But there are still reports of dangerously erroneous information being given out by call service representatives, and that is a problem."

A survey conducted last year by the lawyers' group was fraught with complaints from individuals who had reportedly received incorrect advice from certain telephone operators, such as where, when or how to file for a benefit, or whether to remain in the U.S. or leave under given circumstances. In some cases, the group said, such mistakes led to loss of immigration status, arrest and deportation. Seventy-nine percent of the survey's respondents rated their experience with the telephone service as unsatisfactory, and 63% gave the system the least favorable evaluation, said Crystal Williams, senior director of liaison and information for the American Immigration Lawyers Assn.

Many of the respondents were lawyers, who typically call the hotline on behalf of their clients. Participants were not required to give their names.

In one case, an unidentified customer called to inquire about how to renew her expiring green card, and she was sent a certain form, which she dutifully completed, the lawyers group said. Failing to get a response, she called the hotline a few times and was told each time that everything was fine; the case was pending. It subsequently came to light that she was meant to file an additional form, but had not, lawyers said, and as a result, the customer received a notice of termination of her residence status from the immigration department.

But Knocke, the immigration official, insisted that phone operators had a wealth of information and resources at their disposal that allowed them to properly answer questions and guide callers in the right direction.

"They are trained quite extensively," Knocke said."Many of them are contractors, but that does not tend to minimize the level of education or the capacity of what goes into training [them] prior to answering a specific question."

Knocke said that his department welcomed feedback on the workings of the phone system, and that suggestions would be taken under consideration.

"One of our priorities is world-class customer service," Knocke said. "We recognize it's not perfect and that it can be improved upon, and we are working to improve upon it."