The House of Representatives has passed legislation that would stop the scheduled furlough of thousands of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) employees in just days. The legislation, introduced by a group of bipartisan legislators and passed unanimously on Saturday amid the House returning to Washington, D.C., to address the Trump administration’s intentional U.S Postal Service crisis, would prevent the Aug. 30 furlough of nearly 70% of the immigration agency’s staff.
“This bill is not a complete solution to USCIS’s current fiscal challenges. But it will provide the agency with quick access to additional revenue that will eliminate the need for immediate furloughs,” Immigration and Citizenship Subcommittee Chairwoman Zoe Lofgren said in a statement. “At a time of record unemployment and with increasing delays in immigration adjudications, we must do everything we can to ensure that USCIS can sustain its current workforce and keep operating at full capacity.”
While the self-funded agency had been set to furlough more than 13,000 of its 20,000 workers by Aug. 3, revised estimates showed the agency actually had enough funds to continue work for several more weeks. Currently, “USCIS is now projecting to have enough funds to remain operable through November, but the agency is still planning to proceed with the furloughs—even over the recent objections of bipartisan members of Congress,” Vox reported.
At this point, the continued threat of furloughs has more to do with politics than cash. This is the agency that processes everything from naturalization forms to Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) renewals. It’s an agency that is in no way perfect, but one that helps immigrants stay here. So of course it’s being pushed over a cliff and to a miserable death under this administration: “The collapse of US Citizenship and Immigration Services will be the crown jewel in Stephen Miller’s assault on immigration,” American Immigration Council’s Aaron Reichlin-Melnick recently tweeted.
“It’s not clear whether the bill will pass in the Senate, which is on recess until September,” Vox notes. While it could end up in Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s legislative graveyard alongside bills like the one putting DACA recipients onto a path to citizenship, there have been bipartisan calls from both chambers of Congress pushing USCIS to delay furloughs like it has every ability to do right now:
And if McConnell wants to hide behind concerns of fiscal responsibility, let’s point out that the legislation passed by the House doesn’t even give USCIS the estimated $1 billion plus it was thought to have needed: “[R]ather, it increases the fees some companies pay for faster processing of visa applications,” The Wall Street Journal reported. Vox also reports that “[t]he bill permits the agency to use the resulting revenue only to improve its adjudication and naturalization services,” likely due to the administration’s history of stealing funds from various areas of the government to fund its anti-immigrant policies.
”We do like immigration, we just want people to do it legally,” is a refrain popular among Republicans irritated that racist policies make them look racist. Well, here’s their chance to defend and save an agency that’s main purpose is to help facilitate legal immigration.
“For the sake of more than 13,000 American workers, small businesses seeking temporary employees, and local economies that will be devastated by these furloughs, it is absolutely vital that the United States Congress come together to pass this temporary fix for an immediate crisis,” said Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II. “Since May, these employees and thousands of individuals seeking to realize the American dream have been left in limbo. It’s time for us to put politics aside, pass this legislation, and ensure the USCIS continues to operate at full force.”
UPDATE:
This is some very good news: BuzzFeed News’ Hamed Aleaziz writes that the USCIS has reportedly canceled planned furloughs—we’ll provide more updates when they become available.
