Ganesh Ranganathan
Member
More info on Murthy Bulletin about funding and its ramifications.
1. Reasons for Delays in Service Center Processing Times
Users of our various Murthy services frequently ask us why the Service Centers take so long to process most immigration cases. In our April 11, 2003 article, "Murthy Takes Action: Seeking Funding for TSC" <http://www.murthy.com/uktakact.html>, we reported on efforts of The Law Office of Sheela Murthy to have funding made available to the Texas Service Center to expedite processing. We gratefully acknowledge the many eMails we received in response to that article. Our entire staff and team were moved by your kind words of appreciation. With your help and support, we hope to continue in similar efforts that benefit immigrants. You are a significant part of what makes the United States great.
To help MurthyDotCom and MURTHYBULLETIN readers understand how the processing system at the Service Centers works, we have summarized the various practical and legal considerations that come into play resulting in processing delays. Mr. William R. Yates, the Acting Associate Director of BCIS Operations, outlined some of the causes for delays at a March 29, 2003 meeting attended by several attorneys from The Law Office of Sheela Murthy.
Financial Considerations
In order to adjudicate cases, the Service Centers need financial resources (money!) to hire and retain employees, maintain and develop technology, and cover other normal business expenses. These Service Centers obtain funding as allocated by the U.S. Congress. Of course, all the fees that are paid by the petitioners, beneficiaries, and applicants for the various immigration benefits do not go directly to the Service Centers but, instead, go into the U.S. Treasury. Ultimately, the funds are allocated among the various departments, agencies and other requirements as determined by Congress based on need, national security, and various other criteria. Their perception of how much is required for each agency is based on both objective and subjective principles. In addition to the adjudications functions, the enforcement functions have also been paid largely out of the revenues generated by the filing fees. There is a push now to change this financial structure so that adjudication
s and enforcement are no longer in the same department. However, there is a strong likelihood that some of the funding obtained for adjudicative functions ultimately will be used towards enforcement functions.
The BCIS also faced an unusual monetary loss this year. As regular readers will recall, the application fees were reduced for approximately one month from late January 2003 until late February 2003. This reduction was caused by an oversight in the Homeland Security Act that eliminated the requirement that refugee and asylee fees be included in the application fees for most immigration applications. In that month, the BCIS lost approximately $30 million for the refugee and asylee programs, a loss that will likely be felt in those two programs for years to come.
Deadline Cases as Mandated by Law
This lack of financial resources translates into the fact that the Service Centers cannot hire as many immigration examiners as needed to adjudicate the various petitions or applications. However, Congress may occasionally, without providing additional funding, mandate that a certain type of case be processed within a specified timeframe. Sometimes special programs require action by set deadlines. A recent example was the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program that delayed processing for all other cases at the Service Centers.
Deadlines of Service Centers
Alternatively, BCIS headquarters may declare that a particular "product line" must be processed as a priority. We have seen instances in which the Service Centers require that L-1 petitions be processed, generally, within 30 days, which then necessitates that other petitions go neglected if the Service Center is already short staffed.
To meet these particular deadlines without the aid of additional funding, the Service Centers must reassign adjudicators to complete the task. Obviously, this removes adjudicators, at least temporarily, from cases they are trained for and were originally assigned to handle. As a result, the processing times for the targeted service will be met to the detriment of other immigration services that suffer further backlogs in processing times.
Effects of Security Checks on an Already Overburdened Staff
In addition, at least 25% of the adjudicators who were attending to the various adjudication functions were reassigned to process background checks and/or NSEERS for several months of this year, through April 2002. The NSEERS special registration program should have been a part of the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). However, BCIS is currently responsible for running this program, since ICE was not legally created until March 1, 2003, but the law has required registration of certain nationals since earlier this year.
Further, background security checks are an enforcement function performed in connection with benefits applications and petitions. It is an example of the connection between enforcement and benefits. However, the process is run by the BCIS and costs the Bureau approximately $10 million a month to complete. This $120 million per year was never calculated into the fees that are currently charged to those seeking immigration benefits. As a result, the money has to be "borrowed" from the basic, essential role of the BCIS – adjudications. The shortfall means additional delays since fewer employees can be used to adjudicate cases.
As a result, the adjudications workforce was effectively cut by at least 25% during these periods. Though some of these adjudicators have returned to their original duties, many more are still carrying out the security tasks that are better suited to another Bureau.
1. Reasons for Delays in Service Center Processing Times
Users of our various Murthy services frequently ask us why the Service Centers take so long to process most immigration cases. In our April 11, 2003 article, "Murthy Takes Action: Seeking Funding for TSC" <http://www.murthy.com/uktakact.html>, we reported on efforts of The Law Office of Sheela Murthy to have funding made available to the Texas Service Center to expedite processing. We gratefully acknowledge the many eMails we received in response to that article. Our entire staff and team were moved by your kind words of appreciation. With your help and support, we hope to continue in similar efforts that benefit immigrants. You are a significant part of what makes the United States great.
To help MurthyDotCom and MURTHYBULLETIN readers understand how the processing system at the Service Centers works, we have summarized the various practical and legal considerations that come into play resulting in processing delays. Mr. William R. Yates, the Acting Associate Director of BCIS Operations, outlined some of the causes for delays at a March 29, 2003 meeting attended by several attorneys from The Law Office of Sheela Murthy.
Financial Considerations
In order to adjudicate cases, the Service Centers need financial resources (money!) to hire and retain employees, maintain and develop technology, and cover other normal business expenses. These Service Centers obtain funding as allocated by the U.S. Congress. Of course, all the fees that are paid by the petitioners, beneficiaries, and applicants for the various immigration benefits do not go directly to the Service Centers but, instead, go into the U.S. Treasury. Ultimately, the funds are allocated among the various departments, agencies and other requirements as determined by Congress based on need, national security, and various other criteria. Their perception of how much is required for each agency is based on both objective and subjective principles. In addition to the adjudications functions, the enforcement functions have also been paid largely out of the revenues generated by the filing fees. There is a push now to change this financial structure so that adjudication
s and enforcement are no longer in the same department. However, there is a strong likelihood that some of the funding obtained for adjudicative functions ultimately will be used towards enforcement functions.
The BCIS also faced an unusual monetary loss this year. As regular readers will recall, the application fees were reduced for approximately one month from late January 2003 until late February 2003. This reduction was caused by an oversight in the Homeland Security Act that eliminated the requirement that refugee and asylee fees be included in the application fees for most immigration applications. In that month, the BCIS lost approximately $30 million for the refugee and asylee programs, a loss that will likely be felt in those two programs for years to come.
Deadline Cases as Mandated by Law
This lack of financial resources translates into the fact that the Service Centers cannot hire as many immigration examiners as needed to adjudicate the various petitions or applications. However, Congress may occasionally, without providing additional funding, mandate that a certain type of case be processed within a specified timeframe. Sometimes special programs require action by set deadlines. A recent example was the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program that delayed processing for all other cases at the Service Centers.
Deadlines of Service Centers
Alternatively, BCIS headquarters may declare that a particular "product line" must be processed as a priority. We have seen instances in which the Service Centers require that L-1 petitions be processed, generally, within 30 days, which then necessitates that other petitions go neglected if the Service Center is already short staffed.
To meet these particular deadlines without the aid of additional funding, the Service Centers must reassign adjudicators to complete the task. Obviously, this removes adjudicators, at least temporarily, from cases they are trained for and were originally assigned to handle. As a result, the processing times for the targeted service will be met to the detriment of other immigration services that suffer further backlogs in processing times.
Effects of Security Checks on an Already Overburdened Staff
In addition, at least 25% of the adjudicators who were attending to the various adjudication functions were reassigned to process background checks and/or NSEERS for several months of this year, through April 2002. The NSEERS special registration program should have been a part of the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). However, BCIS is currently responsible for running this program, since ICE was not legally created until March 1, 2003, but the law has required registration of certain nationals since earlier this year.
Further, background security checks are an enforcement function performed in connection with benefits applications and petitions. It is an example of the connection between enforcement and benefits. However, the process is run by the BCIS and costs the Bureau approximately $10 million a month to complete. This $120 million per year was never calculated into the fees that are currently charged to those seeking immigration benefits. As a result, the money has to be "borrowed" from the basic, essential role of the BCIS – adjudications. The shortfall means additional delays since fewer employees can be used to adjudicate cases.
As a result, the adjudications workforce was effectively cut by at least 25% during these periods. Though some of these adjudicators have returned to their original duties, many more are still carrying out the security tasks that are better suited to another Bureau.