Congressman Jesús “Chuy” García leads Democratic Members in Demanding Accountability from USCIS
Washington, D.C.- Today Rep. Jesús "Chuy" García (IL-04), joined by Reps. Adriano Espaillat (NY-13), Nydia M. Velázquez (NY-07) and 83 more Democratic Members, including Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Jerrold Nadler (NY-10) and Immigration and Citizenship Subcommittee Chair Zoe Lofgren (CA-19), sent a letter to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) director Lee Cissna raising grave concerns about the growing backlog of adjudications at the agency.
"The unprecedented processing delays leave vulnerable populations such as domestic survivors, children separated from their families and those seeking asylum or refugee status in life-threatening situations. In addition, U.S. businesses, including farmers and small business owners, rely on USCIS processing of work-visas to fill critical workforce gaps to remain competitive and to contribute to our economy. The delays also include hundreds of thousands of citizenship applications from lawful permanent residents. Director Cissna needs to provide detailed answers on how he plans to address, reduce and prevent future backlogs," said Rep. García.
"Not only do processing slowdowns by USCIS harm immigrant families, but they also have a corrosive effect on our broader economy by depriving small businesses of needed workers. We need to hold USCIS accountable for why these processing delays are occurring and how they can be resolved," said Rep. Nydia M. Velázquez, the Chairwoman of the House Small Business Committee.
"Diversity makes our nation strong and it is inexcusable that the Trump Administration has hindered progress for DREAMers, delayed applications for asylum, and impeded our nation's legal immigration system," said Rep. Adriano Espaillat. "The chaos caused by this administration has created a backlog that has left millions of individuals in limbo while they await the processing of their visas and work permits. USCIS's failure to fulfill its duty is only further proof that this administration is not interested in fixing our immigration system but breaking it beyond repair. Congress will not stand idly by while this happens, and this letter is just the beginning of the oversight we will continue to conduct as we look toward making our immigration system work the way it should," said Rep. Espaillat.
Analyses by the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) show that since FY2014, there has been a 91% increase in the overall average time it takes to process a case. The backlog has more than doubled in just the last year from about 1 million delayed adjudications to the current backlog of about 2.3 million. A copy of the letter, which has been endorsed by AILA and the National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC), can be found here.
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