Review Revealed

The border people have announced that they are willing (doubtless because of P.R. residents’ endless complaining) to conduct a special, amazing review of everyone from P.R. who has lost his/her Nexus card or who has been denied a Nexus card. Since there is normally no accountability for CBP with respect to this (that is, they don’t have to and don’t necessarily tell you why it is being lifted or denied, let alone look into the matter), this is seen as ‘special treatment.’ Further, these folks at CBP say, ‘at the conclusion of the review a recommendation will be made to the NEXUS ombudsman [located in New England] concerning a redress or reapplication process for any applicants or former members that may be merited.” (as quoted in the June All Point Bulletin.)

So, we’re all pretty happy to have such special treatment, although I must say it sounds a little like the kind of special reviews that some people on land leased in Cuba are getting: the reviews where you already know the answer to the question. There is no timeline on this review, says the CBP spokesperson, and there is further no real clarity about who is doing the review, although someone in Blaine has apparently completed doing something. Where to next? No indication. At the end of all this time, says Mr. CBP, “if there have been any errors in the administration of the program those few individuals will be contacted shortly and invited to reapply for NEXUS privileges.” (I think we could try to diagram that sentence, but it would then appear that the ‘errors of administration’ refers to ‘those few individuals’, so who knows what the CBP might have in mind?)

Now, I don’t want to be too picky about this, but “IF THERE HAVE BEEN ANY ERRORS”? Surely we might concede up front that there have been errors. Any government agency spokesperson who suggests that it is possible that their agency is operating error-free in the administration of their programs is surely at worst a knave or a fool, and at best unbelievably naïve. Why can’t the spokesperson just say, ‘We will address any errors that were made’? And, when they find such errors, why can they not correct them, instead of inviting people ‘to reapply’ which means asking them to ante up another $50/person? These are often people who have already reapplied at least once. I know these are hard economic times, but the feds can surely afford to pay for their own errors.

So maybe I, at least, am so far not so happy. Watch what they do, not what they say: advice that is always good to remember when dealing with politicians and government people generally.