THE BIG SLOWDOWN — AILA Policy Brief: USCIS Processing Delays Have Reached Crisis Levels Under the Trump Administration

The American Immigration Lawyers Association’s (AILA) analysis of recently published U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) data reveals crisis-level delays in the agency’s processing of applications and petitions for immigration benefits under the Trump administration. Throughout the nation, these delays are harming families, vulnerable populations, and U.S. businesses that depend on timely adjudications.

Congress intended USCIS to function as a service-oriented agency that efficiently processes immigration-related applications and petitions, enabling individuals to obtain work authorization, citizenship, humanitarian protection, and other vital benefits, and U.S. employers to fill critical workforce gaps. USCIS data for fiscal years (FY) 2014 through 2018 shows that the agency is failing this Congressional mandate by adjudicating cases at an unacceptably and increasingly slow pace. AILA’s analysis of this data reveals:

• The overall average case processing time surged by 46 percent over the past two fiscal years and 91 percent since FY 2014.

• USCIS processed 94 percent of its form types—from green cards for family members to visas for human trafficking victims to petitions for immigrant workers—more slowly in FY 2018 than in FY 2014.

• Case processing times increased substantially in FY 2018 even as case receipt volume appeared to markedly decrease.

KJ