Senate Democrats led by Nevada’s Catherine Cortez Masto called on U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to address delays that have resulted in egregious waits for some Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) applicants. Senators said in their letter that some young immigrants who submitted their paperwork back in December 2020 are reportedly still waiting to be contacted for necessary appointments.
“DACA processing delays have significant consequences, not just for individuals depending on the status for their livelihoods and security, but for their families and for the businesses and workplaces that employ them,” senators tell acting USCIS Director Tracey Renaud. “As we work to build back our economy from the effects of the pandemic, reducing backlogs and processing delays for DACA cases is of the utmost importance.”
USCIS was put through the wringer under the previous administration, with officials at one point threatening to furlough nearly 70% of the agency’s workers over supposed funding concerns. With just days left until 13,000 of the agency’s 20,000 workers were to be sent home, officials cancelled the plan in August.
“Despite the change in administration and ongoing efforts at USCIS to expand processing capacity, current wait times for DACA requests continue to be high,” senators said in the letter. “The average processing time for new DACA requests is between four and nine months, depending on the USCIS service center. Despite the fact that hundreds of initial DACA requests were submitted when the process reopened at the end of last year, nonprofit legal service providers report that only a handful of initial requests nationwide have been approved.”
Senators noted that USCIS has a “stated goal of processing DACA renewal requests within 120 days.” But they said that “some DACA renewal requests continue to be processed at an unacceptably slow rate, with certain applications taking an estimated full year to process, depending on the USCIS service center.” Astrid Silva, a DACA recipient and executive director of Dream Big Nevada, told CNN that the delays have “created some chaos” in her community. "Right now we have to tell (applicants), 'Hey, bud, you have to wait.' And it's really confusing,” she continued in the report.
The group of senators (see here for the full list of signatories) submitted the letter to USCIS on Tuesday, which marked the ninth anniversary of DACA. Young immigrants like Melina Batista used the day to continue highlighting the program. She told Mother Jones the program changed “everything for me, because DACA is literally what I stand on. It’s the only way that I can get a job and pursue my dreams of becoming a lawyer. I can get a car, and help my family move around. It’s basically a lifesaver. It takes away all that anxiety and the emotional wreckage that comes with not having the temporary security that I have now.”
But young undocumented immigrants and their allies also used the anniversary to push for permanent protections for the community, including holding a roundtable meeting with Vice President Kamala Harris at the White House.
“I will tell you, we are here on this day, on the anniversary of DACA, and I'm here on behalf of the Biden-Harris administration to tell you: this administration fully intends to do everything in our power to protect our Dreamers,” the vice president said during the roundtable. “There will be no question about that. There is no question about that. And it is really for one simple reason, and this I say to our Dreamers: because you are home. This is the only home you’ve known. And this is issue is as fundamental as that.”
DACA confers work permits and protection from deportation for two years. It’s unacceptable that some young immigrants are having to spending up to a year waiting to complete their application process. “Dreamers have been on the front lines of the pandemic, protecting and caring for our communities,” Cortez Masto tweeted. “It's unacceptable that they are still facing the delays and wait times caused by the previous admin. I’m calling on @USCIS to fix this.”
