Budget funds allocated to reducing the backlog?

S

shuraz

Registered Users (C)
Does anybody know for sure if in the current budget there are funds specifically allocated to the goal of reducing the I-485 processing times to the Bush's promised 6 months?

This is relevant to the issue of lobbying your congresspeople: in case the promised funds have not been allocated, we need to "flood" them with inquiries.

Thanks!
 
reply

If you see the statement that was issued earlier this year around March/April. Border Enforcement got 333 million, the other branch got 170 million and BCIS got 3 million. So the funds are not allocated to BCIS.
 
I am not sure there is anything called the official budget report. There are something like 9 appropriations bills that congress approves that form the entire spending authorization of the administration. You should be able to find this information on congress's website. You may also get a version of these bills from the OMB's website under whitehouse.gov. There are many thinktanks that pore over these numbers with a microscope, so you may be better off by just doing a google search.
 
FY 2004 Budget: CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION SERVICES

From the Budget of the U.S., FY 2004 Online via GPO Access
[wais.access.gpo.gov]


CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION SERVICES

Federal Funds

General and special funds:

Operating Expenses

For necessary expenses for citizenship and immigration services, including international services, $235,000,000.



The mission of the new Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services is to deliver services to the public in a timely, consistent, fair and high quality manner. This activity encompasses efforts to (1) establish and maintain an asylum process that is fair and timely, and that denies meritless claims quickly without discouraging legitimate seekers of asylum, (2) establish and maintain immigration and naturalization processes that deliver benefits to customers in a fair, accurate and timely manner, (3) make ``user friendly'' customer service an integral, permanent aspect of all activities, and (4) provide employers, benefit providers and other appropriate entities with immigration information and alien status, and the assistance and tools needed to allow them to comply with the laws while safeguarding the civil and privacy rights of citizens and aliens alike.

The 2004 Budget continues to support a five-year, $500 million initiative to support a universal six-month processing standard for all immigration applications.

Program and Financing (in millions of dollars)

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Identification code 70-0300-0-1-751 2002 actual | 2003 est. | 2004 est.
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Obligations by program activity:
00.01 Citizenship and immigration
services....................................................1,413 | 1,656 | 1,799
09.01 Reimbursable program..............................18 |.....18 | ... 18
--------- --------- ----------
10.00 Total new obligations..........................1,431 | 1,674 | 1,817
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
You will need to go into much greater detail to be able to arrive at any meaningful conclusions.

Quickly though, you can see that the increase from 2002 to 2003 has not not made a dent in the stats. On the contrary, the situation has worsened substantially; backlogs have increased significantly and processing times have gone up geometrically (acknowledgements for the phrase to paulclarke1) between fiscal 2002 and 2003.

There is the change to BCIS which will not permit a decent year-over-year comparison. Beyond this, there is the obvious adjustment for inflation, and then a host of line item fudges.

There is one easy way to find out if the program is funded and is yielding results - reducing backlogs as corroborated by folks who post here.
 
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