Washington, D.C. (August 4, 2021) -- In a recent article from the Center for Immigration Studies, Robert Law highlights budgetary concerns at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Unlike most of the federal government, which operates through appropriated taxpayer dollars, USCIS is 96 percent fee-funded, meaning the agency derives its revenue from the fees paid by those who choose to engage in the immigration system. The agency is operating at a loss and has been for years.

As noted in the USCIS ombudsman’s 2021 annual report, “One of the major reasons for USCIS’ fiscal pressures was disclosed in its proposed rule to raise fees published in November 2019: it was processing applications at what was essentially a loss.” Combined with the Obama administration’s generous use of fee waivers and exemptions, the agency was forgoing $1.5 billion a year in potential revenue.

Law, the Center’s director of regulatory affairs and policy, said, “USCIS is bleeding money, and the new director, Ur Jaddou, seems inclined to let policy preferences, as opposed to fiscal considerations, influence the fees. It is almost as if the Biden administration wants to bankrupt the agency, so they can shift the agency from being fee-based to being funded by American taxpayers and controlled by Congress through appropriations. A GAO audit would be helpful.”

USCIS, under the Trump administration, tried to correct this flawed business model by issuing a new fee schedule that actually covered the cost of adjudications. A federal district judge blocked that fee rule on dubious procedural grounds. Instead of challenging this ruling, the Biden administration has abandoned the fee rule developed under the Trump administration and is developing its own while the agency loses at least $3 million a day.