70% of USCIS employees can lose their jobs due to lack of finances - ForumDaily
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70% of USCIS employees can lose their jobs due to lack of finances

About 70% of US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) employees will be fired due to a sharp decrease in immigration fees funded by the agency. Writes about it The New York Times.

Photo: Shutterstock

Possible causes of the financial crisis

Three years of restrictive immigration policies have led visa applicants to a difficult situation and potential immigrants have begun looking for alternative countries for immigration.

Thousands of employees now face uncertainty, partly due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the immigration policy of US President Donald Trump.

Nearly 70% of USCIS employees went on vacation because the number of immigration fees funded by the agency fell sharply.

Joseph Edlow, deputy director of agency policy, said that approximately 19 employees went on vacation. The decrease in revenue from fees charged for immigration and visa applications during a pandemic forced the agency to turn to Congress and ask for $ 000 billion.

But Democrats and Republicans said the administration had not yet provided enough information about the funding request, and the Citizenship and Immigration Services were preparing to lay off about 13 employees by August 400. The reason for the budget crisis is still under discussion.

Some government officials and members of Congress blame Trump's restrictive policies.

Senior administration officials say the pandemic is the main cause. Since March, USCIS has reduced the number of applications by 50%.

On the subject: Naturalization in the context of a pandemic: USCIS originally approached the solution to the problem

Regardless of the reason, the effect is real. Russell Vogt, Acting Director of the White House Budget, told lawmakers that by September 30, the end of the fiscal year, revenues to the department could fall by more than 60%. Of the USCIS budget of $ 4,8 billion, 97% comes from such fees.

«Это похоже на кульминацию трех с половиной лет изменений в политике и политических сдвигов, один за другим с точки зрения ограничения иммиграции», — сказал Джейсон Маркс, управляющий Американской федерации государственных служащих на местах. Маркс тоже недавно получил предварительное уведомление об увольнении.

What can be done

USCIS employees and members of Congress said that dismissals would not only harm the personal lives of employees, but also worsen morale in the department.

«Операции USCIS в значительной степени зависят от доходов, полученных от сборов с заявителей и петиционеров, — сказал Чед Вулф, исполняющий обязанности секретаря Департамента внутренней безопасности. — Во многих отношениях USCIS действует скорее как традиционный бизнес, а не как государственное учреждение, полностью финансируемое за счет ассигнований».

Representatives of the Citizenship and Immigration Services told Congress that they would return the funds to the Treasury, adding a 10% premium to the applications filed, despite the fact that the pandemic drastically slowed down such processing.

Both Republicans and Democrats said they needed a formal emergency call request that should indicate how the money would be spent.

In 2019, when officials from the Department of Homeland Security demanded $ 4,6 billion from Congress as emergency funds, some Democrats expressed concerns that the money would contribute to immigration enforcement. These suspicions only intensified after a report by the Government Oversight Office found that customs and border services spent $ 112 million on food and medicine, all-terrain vehicles, bicycles and boats.

«Конгресс готов работать с администрацией, но мы не можем выписать чек на то, чтобы они продолжали работать таким образом», — сказал представитель Бенни Томпсон, демократ из Миссисипи и председатель комитета по внутренней безопасности Палаты представителей.

Not only Democrats believe that it will be necessary to report on the means.

On the subject: USCIS Tightens US Asylum Seeker Rules

«Если они действительно хотят денег, им придется формально попросить об этом», — сказал сенатор Ричард Шелби, республиканец из Алабамы и председатель сенатского комитета по ассигнованиям.

Even Daniel Spooner, president of the American Federation of the Council of Civil Servants, representing more than 14 American citizens, agreed that any funding should be monitored.

Роберт Кульман, представитель Управления по вопросам управления и бюджета, заявил, что администрация направила Конгрессу соответствующий запрос на получение средств. «Мы надеемся, что в Конгрессе примут наше предложение», — сказал он.

A senior internal security official who spoke on condition of anonymity said the budget department was supposed to provide Congress with a formal request for funds.

Both Democrats and Republicans said they were focused on preventing the dismissal of USCIS employees and that they would try to include help in the package because of the coronavirus.

West Virginia Republican Senator Shelley Moore-Capito, who controls spending on national security, said adding coronavirus aid to the aid package could be one way to support the agency.

«Мы хотим предотвратить эти увольнения», — сказала она.

The Citizenship and Immigration Service suspended most of its operations on March 18, as states introduced social distance measures, postponing ceremonies for granting citizenship to thousands of immigrants.

But agency finance cuts cannot only be attributed to a pandemic, said Cristobal Ramon, a senior immigration policy analyst at the Center for Bipartisan Politics, a research organization in Washington.

The administration also tightened application verification, banned travel from many countries, and introduced a different policy that held back potential immigrants, international students, travelers, and temporary workers.

On the subject: Why USCIS may reject a family reunion petition: reasons and solutions

One example is the “public burden” rule, which prohibits immigrants from receiving green cards if they are considered to be able to use government benefits programs, such as food stamps or subsidized housing. Immigration advocates said this policy does not allow many people to apply for legal permanent residence.

Citizenship and Immigration Services predicted financial problems long before the pandemic, when they proposed increasing the payment for receiving a green card.

What will happen to employees

«Сотрудники спрашивают, смогут ли они работать в ведомстве в долгосрочной перспективе, — сказал Рамон. — Трудно просыпаться каждое утро и приходить в офис, не зная, что повлечет за собой ваша работа, потому что указы руководства старшего уровня меняются день ото дня».

Gillian Morgan joined the USCIS team in January 2017 to work in the area of ​​handling asylum seekers, but quit after many of her colleagues focused on pursuing policies that force asylum seekers to wait in Mexico or deport them to Central America.

«Я присоединилась к правительству, чтобы стать офицером охраны», — сказала она. Но с ее новыми назначениями «была большая вероятность, что мы подвергнем кого-то опасности, и мне неудобно быть частью этого».

Jessica Collins, spokeswoman for the Citizenship and Immigration Services, referred to a 2019 report that showed that job satisfaction with the agency was rated at 75%.

Collins also presented a statement to Edlow, the deputy director, who emphasizes the difficult near future that USCIS will face.

«На этой неделе тысячи преданных государственных служащих получили уведомления о возможном увольнении, что вызвало беспокойство за их средства к существованию в эти сложные времена», — сказал Эдлоу.

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