U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services at 1600 Callowhill Street, Philadelphia

Legal Immigrants Provide Lessons in Citizenship

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services field office for our slice of Pennsylvania is located at 1600 Callowhill Street, in Philadelphia. It's just a few blocks north of Philadelphia's center, within sight distance of the statue of "Billie Penn," atop the old city hall building. The Immigration office is in an austere but secure neighborhood, within walking distance to local shops, bars, and cafes. I mention this because, when I asked a guy I know where it was located, I was told the USCIS building was in the "ghetto."

A while back, I lived and worked in Philadelphia. Philadelphia is down-to-earth, an unpretentious city with pleasures, pains, and interesting neighborhoods largely unknown to non-residents. 1600 Callowhill Street in Philadelphia in no way resembles a "ghetto"; it's a typically urban neighborhood, with fast moving traffic, and a multi-story brick building where the Immigration office is located. There are plenty of secure parking lots at prices which are about a fourth of what you'd pay in New York City. You can park at the street meters if you aren't too much inconvenienced by the two-hour limit.

I'd volunteered to drive a young guy I know to the USCIS office for his naturalization ceremony. We arrived and parked near 1600 Callowhill on a rainy, raw, and cold day. My pal Aleks had a 2 p.m. appointment, but so did a hundred other resident aliens. We had to pass the security checkpoints. A muscular, compact security man checked my driver's license and attitude by looking into my face and disguising a few quips as questions. He did the same with Aleks, examining his resident alien or "green card."

We next had to get rid of metal and electronics. There was a machine screening and a physical body check after that, and then we were guided to an adjudicative area on one of the upper floors. I'd expected surly security personnel and bureaucratic indifference—the security people at 1600 Callowhill Street were polite and efficient.