Reducing DACA Backlogs

Pax Ahimsa Gethen, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

CBS reports that the Biden administration is assigning more USCIS personnel to review pending DACA applications.

Apparently, there’s a huge processing lag currently plaguing the DACA program. CBS reports that “as of May 31, USCIS had only adjudicated 1,900 of more than 62,000 first-time DACA applications submitted by undocumented immigrant teenagers and young adults since the program reopened in December 2020.”

And if that sounds bad, the backlog jumped even higher in the next month. As of the end of June (mere days ago), the backlog of first time DACA petitions rose to 81,000.

Yikes.

USCIS has identified a number of reasons for the backlog — including, for example, delays in biometric appointments due to Covid precautions. The agency is working on that and other contributors to the problem. The hope is with “technical” changes and an infusion of staff, the DACA program can get back on track.

-KitJ