House Republicans accused the Biden administration’s top official over immigration services of expeditiously processing immigrant claims for admission, but at the cost of waiving in unvetted masses, they alleged.
In what was likely the final time that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, or USCIS, Director Ur Jaddou testified before lawmakers on Capitol Hill, Jaddou argued that the agency was closing up four years under her leadership with great success — a point that infuriated Republicans for how they claimed it had sunk into chaos during her tenure.
“Before I arrived, a perfect storm of policy and operational decisions, COVID, and a severely outdated fee structure led to a fiscal crisis,” Jaddou said about the 22,500-person agency before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement. “The results were a hiring freeze, the termination of support contracts, the issuance of furlough notices to 70% of the workforce. And as you might imagine, very low morale.”
Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) praised USCIS for having completed 10 million immigration cases that were pending decisions in fiscal year 2023, despite the setbacks.
Jaddou touted a decrease in the pending immigration case backlog last year for the first time in a decade and “the security and vetting” of immigrants and sponsors was the “number one” priority for USCIS.
Additionally, USCIS was tasked in late 2022 with vetting immigrant sponsors in the United States and providing documents to the more than 530,000 immigrants outside the U.S. who requested admission to fly into the country.
Immigrants from four countries under the CHNV Program — Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela — were admitted on a temporary, two-year basis. The program was quietly shuttered earlier this year for over a month after the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General found rampant fraud from sponsors.
Rep. Tom Tiffany (R-WI) called into question how USCIS had been able to decide more cases than in years past despite its being crippled during the pandemic, particularly given the fraud allegations.
“The other side was saying, ‘We’ve completed 10 million cases,'” said Tiffany. “It’s not hard to complete 10 million cases when you’re not reviewing them.”
Jaddou maintained that USCIS had done its best to maintain efficiency, integrity, and security.
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The CBP One app permits immigrants from four countries, Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, to apply to enter the U.S. on parole, which allows an individual to remain for two years and receive a work permit. Recipients must have a sponsor in the U.S. and pay for their international commercial flights.
The app’s function for allowing immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela to apply and fly into the country was part of a “carrot and stick deal with Mexico,” and in return, Mexico allowed the U.S. the ability to remove some citizens of those countries at the border back to Mexico.