USCIS: Agency That Manages Immigration Is Running Out Of Money

US News & Politics Immigration
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The federal agency that manages the country’s immigration system is at the brink of insolvency and will begin adding a surcharge to application fees.

Faced with an unprecedented drop in immigration amid the coronavirus pandemic, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is expected to run out of funds by the end of May, The Wall Street Journal first reported. The agency, which confirmed it’s including a 10% surcharge to applications, is asking Congress for a billion-dollar bailout.

Unlike most other federal agencies, USCIS is not funded primarily through U.S. taxpayers, but through the fees it imposes on customers. However, the viral pandemic has forced the agency to temporarily shutter its offices and suspend its usual day-to-day activities, resulting in a substantial drop in its income.

USCIS is asking Congress for $1.2 billion in emergency funding to stay afloat. The agency also said it will use the 10% surcharge to reimburse the funds once its operations reopen.

“Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, U.S.C.I.S. has seen a dramatic decrease in revenue,” the agency said in a statement about its financial situation.

Without any assistance from the government, USCIS expects its revenue to fall by more than 60% at the close of this fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30.

Tasked with handling the country’s legal immigration system, USCIS manages applications for almost all visas, citizenship, permanent residency and also petitions for asylum and refugee status. In an effort to “help slow the spread of Coronavirus Disease,” the agency began closing its doors to the public in March.

The move not only resulted in a large drop in income for the agency, but also risks the immigration status of thousands of immigrants whose visas are about to expire. Thousands of other foreign-born residents who passed their citizenship tests have also been forced to postpone their oath ceremonies.

Since the coronavirus crisis reached the United States, many functions about immigration have either been mitigated or put on a complete hold.

The White House declared the northern and southern borders closed off to all non-essential traffic, and President Donald Trump has placed a ban on entry for many green card applicants living abroad. Many of Trump’s restrictions are expected to continue even after the crisis wades.

https://dailycaller.com/2020/05/18/uscis-immigration-surcharge-coronavirus-congress/

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Damn. I guess we will just have to do without thousands and thousands of immigrants and thousands more H1-B visas, displacing Americans from good-paying jobs during the worst unemployment crisis in American history. I hope this agency goes bankrupt and gets scattered to the wind. We are a sovereign country and have the right to take in ZERO immigrants if we so choose.

All those scam asylum seekers will probably need to head back home as well since there is no way they can get their scam through the process now.

I call this a win.

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I like the fact that they were making immigrants pay the full cost of the immigration process - but if they need more money why don’t they just up their fees to astronomical amounts right now and then only accept the people who can afford to be in the USA. Problem solved.

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Bc the money ran out and unemployment is high and there’s a plague going on, all of the sudden people aren’t “oppressed” anymore by their corrupted Latin american government and the cartels. Really make you think.

You expect these people to be free-thinking capitalists?

Im just glad to find out that the USCIS isnt directly funded by the federal tax money.

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USCIS is a joke. When my sister stupidly married a dumb American she had to go through the immigration process. They basically treated her like a criminal while she was paying them thousands of dollars just to be insulted and disrespected with every encounter. She could have just bought a ticket to Disney and never come home. It would have been far less expensive and everyone would have been nice to her.

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Just a power play. These office workers have nothing going on in their life, and I bet it’s “empowering” to have a say in changing the course of someone, or an entire family’s direction.

But then again, these same people would throw flowers at illegals feet like they are mistreated puppies.

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You are probably right about that. My sister dealt primarily with aggravated black and latina women who had less of an understanding of the English language than she did.

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Damn. This is the worst news I’ve heard all day. What the hell are giant mega-corporations who use tax shelters in Bermuda to avoid paying a single penny in taxes going to do when they can’t flood the country with street shitting Indians and braindead Mexican agricultural workers? This is a nightmare!

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English is a tool, and you need competent proficiency and mastery to advance in your career. It does not matter if you have an ingenious idea, it is worthless if you can’t communicate and “sell” the idea.

With that said, it is easy to understand why the population that your sister deals with does not reach the basic proficiency in English: they don’t have to work a day in their life.

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Don’t tell anyone, corporations do not pay taxes. They build the tax into the cost of goods and services and YOU the consumer pays the tax for them.

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