June 15, 2020

Dear John,

Unless Congress provides U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) with $1.2 billion in emergency funding—an infusion that would amount to 25 percent of its current budget—the agency says it may have to furlough up to 80 percent of its workers within the coming month.

USCIS is attributing its severe budget shortfall on the COVID-19 pandemic. But a closer look at the agency’s budget and operations suggests the seeds for its difficulties were planted well before the coronavirus outbreak stalled in-person services and international travel.

In a new Migration Policy Institute (MPI) commentary, Sarah Pierce and Doris Meissner examine how Trump administration policies and management have driven significant declines in immigration petitions and fee revenues, even as other parts of the fee-funded agency’s spending increased.

USCIS has more than doubled spending on vetting applications and immigration benefit fraud, though has not offered evidence indicating undetected levels of fraud exist. Amid the resulting slowdown in processing, the agency’s backlog of pending cases has swelled by more than 1 million, and processing times for most types of petitions have increased.

The commentary details how the rising spending in some USCIS accounts and declining immigration applications have produced a swing from a $790 million cash reserve in fiscal 2017 to being $1.5 billion in the red this year.

You can read the commentary here: www.migrationpolicy.org/news/uscis-budget-implosion-owes-far-more-pandemic

With best regards,

Michelle Mittelstadt

Director of Communications and Public Affairs
Migration Policy Institute