US Citizenship and Immigration Providers (USCIS) is asking Congress for a $1.2 billion bailout. The company claims it's going to run out of cash
US Citizenship and Immigration Providers (USCIS) is asking Congress for a $1.2 billion bailout. The company claims it’s going to run out of cash by the tip of the summer time with out help as a result of a decline in immigration brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.
In contrast to different federal companies, USCIS receives nearly no taxpayer {dollars}, and relies on charges related to submitting functions for inexperienced playing cards, visas, work permits, US citizenship, and humanitarian advantages reminiscent of asylum. The pandemic has already introduced on a “dramatic lower” in its income that’s solely more likely to worsen as functions are estimated to drop by about 61 % by way of September, an company spokesperson mentioned. President Donald Trump’s restrictions on immigration, different nations’ restrictions on journey and the truth that vital authorities workplaces aren’t open to course of functions have all contributed to this decline.
To mitigate the finances shortfall, USCIS is planning to implement an extra 10 % surcharge on all functions and sought Congress’s assistance on Friday, Buzzfeed’s Hamed Aleaziz first reported. The company has additionally already restricted spending to wage and mission-critical actions, however “with out congressional intervention, USCIS must take drastic actions to maintain the company afloat,” the spokesperson mentioned.
Why USCIS is going through a funding shortfall
Immigration has come almost to a standstill over the previous two months. The Trump administration has shuttered USCIS workplaces, closed consulates overseas, shut down the borders with Canada and Mexico and imposed a 60-day ban on the issuance of latest inexperienced playing cards. Asylum processing on the southern border has additionally virtually stopped, as Trump administration officers applied a program to quickly return migrants to Mexico with out a lot as a well being examination.
Whereas introduced on by the pandemic, this sort of lower in authorized immigration is what Trump has lengthy sought. He has railed in opposition to what he calls “chain migration,” referring to US residents or everlasting residents who sponsor their immigrant relations for visas and inexperienced playing cards. And he has sought to maintain poor immigrants out by proposing to reject those that don’t have medical health insurance or who would possibly use public advantages sooner or later. (Courts have blocked the restrictions on immigrants with out medical health insurance from going into impact for now, however the coverage affecting immigrants who would possibly go on public advantages went into impact in February.)
USCIS hasn’t launched information on what number of functions it has acquired for the reason that pandemic began, however has acknowledged functions are on the decline. The newest out there complete information, from October 2019 to December 2019, had really proven a spike in functions — greater than 1.9 million, as in comparison with 1.7 million within the previous three months.
Purposes dipped in March as in comparison with the identical month final yr throughout a number of non permanent visa classes, together with visas for folks transferring inside a multinational firm, those that present extraordinary capability or achievement particularly industries, athletes, entertainers, and non secular employees. It’s probably that functions plunged even additional in April because the US instituted immigration restrictions and stay-at-home orders, and as financial alternatives dried up.
USCIS’s funding shortfall may very well be exacerbated as Trump weighs further restrictions on non permanent visa holders within the coming weeks. The New York Occasions reported that he’s contemplating barring the issuance of latest employment-based visas, reminiscent of H-1B visas for expert employees and H-2B visas for seasonal non-agricultural employees, in addition to ending a program that permits overseas college students to work within the US for as much as three years post-graduation.
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