U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, a major force earlier this summer in pressing U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to postpone the furlough of more than half of its workforce by several weeks, is once again working for a last-minute miracle. Because congressional legislators went on vacation without agreeing to any relief for the agency as part of COVID-19 legislation, the furloughs of more than 13,000 of its 20,000 workers will now come at the end of this month. But in a new letter to the agency, Leahy, the Senate Appropriations Committee vice chair, says USCIS has every ability to once again postpone the move.
“I appreciate the decision to delay furloughs from August 3, 2020, to August 30 in response to my previous request,” Leahy wrote. “However, I am troubled by the fact that USCIS is still proceeding with furloughs for this fiscal year despite the fact that the agency is consistently projecting to end the fiscal year with a sizeable carryover balance. The resulting carryover balance exists even after you factor in paying staff through the fiscal year.”
“To put it more plainly,” he continued, “USCIS could pay all of its staff through the end of the fiscal year, avoid furloughs entirely, and still end the fiscal year with a sizeable carryover balance.” It’s hard to see the impending and obviously needless shutdown of the nation’s legal immigration system as anything but a political decision.
“Let’s tick through some of the consequences of USCIS largely shutting down: people in queue to become naturalized citizens won’t get there in time for the 2020 election,” tweeted The Wall Street Journal’s Michelle Hackman, and noted the crisis facing Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients: “DACA recipients who are still eligible to renew their DACA … can’t.” Remember, the administration is so eager to deport young immigrants that its actively defying the Supreme Court and refusing to reopen the program to new applicants. But if current beneficiaries can’t even renew their protections either, well then racist Trump adviser Stephen Miller sees that as a win, too.
“The prudent and humane thing to do is to delay furloughs through the fiscal year,” Leahy continues. “It is unconscionable to leave over 13,000 federal employees in a constant state of crisis, with a lack of certainty about how they and their families will make ends meet during this pandemic. These employees are our neighbors, friends, citizens, and families, and they do critical work on behalf of our government. Further, the United States remains locked in a perpetual cycle of distress and fear due to the ongoing pandemic.”
“I’d like to believe that, at the very least, USCIS delays its furlough start date until the end of September or later,” former Obama adviser Doug Rand recently told Forbes. He currently works assisting immigrants seeking naturalization, another process that has seen massive derailment. “This will happen if DHS comes under enough pressure from lawmakers and stakeholders from both sides of the aisle. After all, USCIS is about to lay off thousands of workers in places that include Nebraska, Missouri, and Texas—and every single member of Congress has constituents who will suffer if USCIS shuts down at the end of the month.”
Like I’ve said before, this is a fucking disaster, and has been completely preventable except for the fact that it’s been completely on purpose. As former USCIS chief counsel and Department of Homeland Security Watch Director Ur Jaddou said in a statement received by Daily Kos in June, “Trump’s anti-immigrant agenda has run USCIS into the ground.” USCIS needs to be aided because so many are depending on its services. Its politicization is a whole different problem.
